Summary

On February 12, 2014, thousands of people across Venezuela
participated in marches and public demonstrations to protest the policies of
the government of President Nicolás Maduro. In Caracas and several other
cities, violent clashes broke out between government security forces and
protesters. Three people were killed, dozens seriously injured, and hundreds
arrested. Since then, the protests have continued and the number of casualties
and arrests has grown.

In the days and weeks after February 12, Human Rights Watch
received reports of serious human rights violations, including abuses committed
during government operations aimed at containing protest activity, as well as
in the treatment of people detained at or near protests.

To investigate these allegations of abuse, Human Rights
Watch carried out a fact-finding investigation in Venezuela in March. We
visited Caracas and three states—Carabobo, Lara, and Miranda—and
conducted scores of interviews with abuse victims, their families,
eyewitnesses, medical professionals, journalists, and human rights defenders.
We also gathered extensive material evidence, including photographs, video
footage, medical reports, judicial rulings, and case files. In addition, we
collected and reviewed government reports and official statements regarding
protest activity and the response of security forces.

What we found during our in-country investigation and
subsequent research is a pattern of serious abuse. In 45 cases, we found strong
evidence of serious human rights violations committed by Venezuelan security
forces, which included violations of the right to life; the prohibition on
torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment; the rights to bodily
integrity, security and liberty; and due process rights. These violations were
compounded by members of the Attorney General’s Office and the judiciary
who knew of, participated in, or otherwise tolerated abuses against protesters
and detainees, including serious violations of their due process rights.

The accounts of the victims in these 45 cases—together
with corroborating evidence assembled from a diverse range of
sources—provided credible evidence that more than 150 people were victims
of serious abuses in related incidents. (For more on how we conducted our
research and documented cases, see the “Methodology”section
in this report.)

In most of the cases we documented, security forces employed
unlawful force, including shooting and severely beating unarmed individuals.
Nearly all of the victims were also arrested and, while in detention, subjected
to physical and psychological abuse. In at least 10 cases, the abuses clearly
constituted torture.

In all three states, as well as in Caracas, security forces
allowed armed pro-government gangs to assault unarmed civilians, and in some
cases openly collaborated with them in the attacks, our research found.

The Venezuelan government has characterized the protests
taking place throughout the country as violent. There is no doubt that some
protesters have used violence, including throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails
at security forces. More than 200 security force members and government
officials have been injured in the context of the protests, and at least nine
have died, according to the government. All crimes—including those
committed against security forces, protesters, and bystanders—require
rigorous investigation, and those responsible should be brought to justice.
Moreover, security forces have a responsibility to detain people caught in the
act of committing crimes.

However, in the 45 cases of human rights violations we
documented, the evidence indicated that the victims of unlawful force and other
abuses were not engaging in acts of violence or other criminal activity at the
time they were targeted by Venezuelan security forces. On the contrary,
eyewitness testimony, video footage, photographs and other evidence suggest
victims were unarmed and nonviolent. Indeed, some of the worst abuses we
documented were committed against people who were not even participating in
demonstrations, or were already in detention and fully under the control of
security forces.

The nature and timing of many of these abuses—as well
as the frequent use of political epithets by the perpetrators—suggests
that their aim was not to enforce the law or disperse protests, but rather to
punish people for their political views or perceived views.

In many instances, the aim of the abuse appears to have been
to prevent individuals from documenting the tactics being employed by security
forces, or to punish those attempting to do so. In 13 of the cases we
investigated, security forces targeted individuals who had been taking
photographs or filming security force confrontations with protesters. Roughly
half of these individuals were professional journalists, while the other half
were protesters or bystanders using cell phones to document use of force by
security forces.

In addition to the unlawful use of force and arbitrary
arrests, nearly all of the 45 cases involved violations of due process
guarantees. These included holding detainees incommunicado, denying them access
to lawyers until minutes before they were presented to judges, and in several
cases planting evidence on them before charging them with crimes. Judges often
confirmed charges against detainees based on dubious evidence presented by
prosecutors, without subjecting the evidence to rigorous review or inquiring
into how suspects presented before them had sustained visible injuries.

Prosecutors and judges routinely turned a blind eye to
evidence suggesting that detainees had been subject to abuses while in
detention, such as ignoring obvious signs of physical abuse, or interrogating
detainees in military installations, where it was clear they did not have
access to lawyers.

High-ranking Venezuelan government officials, including
President Nicolás Maduro and the attorney general, have acknowledged
that government security forces have committed human rights violations in
responding to demonstrations since February 12. They have pledged that those
responsible for abuses will be investigated and prosecuted, and the Attorney General’s
Office recently reported that it is conducting 145 investigations into alleged
human rights violations and that 17 security officials had been detained for
their alleged involvement in these cases. At the same time, President Maduro,
the attorney general, and numerous others government officials have also
repeatedly claimed that human rights abuses are isolated incidents, rather than
evidence of a broader pattern of abuse.

While it was not possible for Human Rights Watch’s
investigation to determine the full scope of human rights violations committed
in Venezuela in response to protests since February 12, our research leads us
to conclude that the abuses were not isolated cases or excesses by rogue security
force members, but rather part of a broader pattern, which senior officers and
officials must or should have known about, and seem at a minimum to have
tolerated. The fact that the abuses by members of security forces were carried
out repeatedly, by multiple security forces, in multiple locations across three
states and the capital (including in controlled environments such as military
installations and other state institutions), and over the six-week period
covered in this report, supports the conclusion that the abuses were part of a
systematic practice by the Venezuelan security forces.

Prosecutors and justice officials who should have operated
independently from security forces—and whose role should have led them to
identify and intervene to stop violations against detainees—instead
turned a blind eye, and were in some cases actively complicit in the human
rights violations being committed by security forces. Prosecutors contributed
to various due process violations, such as participating in interrogations
without a defense lawyer present, which is contrary to Venezuelan law. Both
prosecutors and judges failed to scrutinize evidence that had been planted or
fabricated by security forces, and held hearings to determine charges for
multiple detainees who did not have prior adequate access to legal counsel.

The scope of the due process violations that occurred
in multiple jurisdictions across several states—and that persisted, at
the very least, over the six-week period examined by this
report—highlights the failure of the judicial body to fulfill its role as
a safeguard against abuse of state power. It also reinforces the conclusion
that Venezuela’s judiciary has been transformed from an independent
branch of government to a highly politicized body, as has been previously
documented in multiple reports by Human Rights Watch.[1]

Violence
by Protesters

Human Rights Watch reviewed government statements alleging
that protesters engaged in acts of violence and other crimes in various parts
of the country since February 12. We also collected and analyzed media reports,
video footage, and photographs posted online purporting to shows acts of
violence committed by protesters during demonstrations. As noted below,
according to the Venezuelan government there have been 41 fatalities connected
to the protests, most of which the government attributes to protesters.

The most common crime attributed to protesters was the
obstruction of roadways and other transit, either by fixed barricades or the
presence of demonstrators who did not seek official permits for their
activities. In addition, on multiple occasions, people participating in
protests have attacked security forces with rocks, Molotov cocktails, and
slingshots. In a handful of incidents, there were reports of protesters
shooting homemade mortars.

For example, photographs taken by a Reuters
photographer on April 6, 2014, show young men who appear to be protesters
firing what looks like an improvised mortar device.[2]
The photograph’s caption reads: “Anti-government protesters fire a
rudimentary mortar at police during riots in Caracas April 6, 2014.”
Other photographs taken by the same photographer show different masked men
holding and shooting what appear to be homemade mortar tubes on February 26 and
27, 2014.[3]
According to the photographs’ captions, the men holding the mortar tubes
were anti-government protesters participating in protests in San
Cristóbal, Táchira state.

Human Rights Watch also found multiple photographs and
videos that reportedly show anti-government protesters throwing Molotov
cocktails at security forces.[4] Some
images show the Molotov cocktails setting security force members or their
vehicles on fire. For example, NTN24 posted online a cell phone video
showing several people throwing Molotov cocktails at an armored government
vehicle, setting it on fire.[5]NTN24
reported that the vehicle had been shooting water and teargas as it aimed at
demolishing street barricades in Caracas.[6]

Another video posted on YouTube shows around a dozen
security force members retreating on a street as rocks are being thrown at
them. A flaming object lands at their feet and explodes, temporarily setting at
least a few of them on fire.[7] The
video was uploaded on YouTube on February 21 by a user who said it was taken on
February 18, 2014, in Táchira state, and described the explosive as a
Molotov cocktail. The video does not show who threw the rocks or explosive, but
several news reports that covered the video alleged that they had been thrown
by protesters.[8]

According to the Attorney General’s Office, there have
been 41 fatalities in the context of the protests since February 12.[9]
Those 41 deaths were classified as follows: 27 caused by firearms; six caused
by motorcycle or car crashes attributed to the presence of barricades; five
caused by “other circumstances” (which are not defined); two people
killed by being run over by vehicles; and one person who died of stab wounds.[10]
Publicly available information indicates that of these 41 reported cases, nine
were members of the security forces or government officials, at least 10 were
civilians who participated in or supported the protests, and roughly four were
civilian government supporters.[11]

President Maduro has blamed the opposition for most of the
protest-related deaths. However, to date, the government has not made public
evidence to support this claim. In fact, based on official reports and credible
media accounts, there are strong reasons to believe that security forces and armed
pro-government gangs have been responsible for some of the killings.[12]
Indeed, several security force members have been arrested for their alleged
role in some of these cases.[13]

In those cases where public officials have presented
evidence purporting to demonstrate protesters’ responsibility for
killings, that evidence has been far from conclusive. For example, in one case,
a governor affiliated with President Maduro’s political party presented
video footage showing two masked men on a rooftop who appear to be shooting a
rifle or rifles in the direction of the street.[14]
The governor claimed the gunmen were anti-government protesters and suggested
they were responsible for the shooting death of a state worker, Juan Orlando
Labrador Castiblanco.[15] In a
separate speech, President Maduro said Labrador had been killed by
“right-wing snipers.”[16] The video
shown by the governor does not indicate whether the men on the roof were
anti-government protesters, nor is it possible to determine based on the
footage whether the shots apparently fired from the rooftop hit anyone
(Labrador is not shown in the video). No evidence was supplied regarding the
trajectory of the bullet or bullets that killed Labrador. Several press reports
confirming Labrador’s death during or around the time of a protest (which
was taking place at the time on the Avenida Cardenal Quintero) included
accounts—from neighbors and the mayor—claiming that armed pro-government
gangs, allegedly acting in tandem with government security forces, had shot him
dead.[17] In the
face of contradictory claims, the importance of a thorough, impartial, credible
investigation that includes all available forensic and crime scene evidence and
witness accounts is critical.

Unlawful
Use of Force

Security forces routinely used unlawful force against
unarmed protesters and other people in the vicinity of demonstrations.
The perpetrators included members of the National Guard, the National Police,
the Guard of the People, and various state police agencies. The most common
abuses included:

severely beating unarmed
individuals;

firing live ammunition, rubber
bullets, and teargas canisters indiscriminately into crowds; and

When the restaurant where he worked in a shopping mall in
El Carrizal closed on March 5 due to nearby protests, Moisés
Guánchez, 19, left to go home. But he found himself trapped in an
enclosed parking lot behind the mall with around 40 other people, as members of
the National Guard fired teargas canisters and rubber bullets in their
direction. When Guánchez attempted to flee the lot, a guardsman blocked
his way and shot toward his head with rubber bullets. The shot hit
Guánchez’s arm, which he had raised to protect his face, and he
was knocked to the ground. Though Guánchez offered no resistance, two
guardsmen picked him up and took turns punching him, until a third approached
and shot him point blank with rubber bullets in his groin. He would need three
blood transfusions and operations on his arm, leg, and one of his testicles.

Willie David Arma, 29, was detained on
March 7 in the street outside his home in Barquisimeto, a few blocks away from
an anti-government protest. He was shot repeatedly with rubber bullets, some at
point-blank range, then subjected to a prolonged beating with rifle butts and
helmets by three national guardsmen who asked him: “Who is your
president?”

Under international law, government security forces may use
force in crowd control operations as a last resort and in proportion to the seriousness
of the offense they are seeking to prevent. They may use lethal force only as
self-defense or defense of others against the imminent threat of death or
serious bodily injury. They may use teargas only when necessary and in a
proportionate and non-discriminatory manner—and should not use it in a
confined area or against anyone in detention or already under the control of
law enforcement.

Human Rights Watch found that Venezuelan security forces
repeatedly resorted to force—including lethal force—in situations
in which it was wholly unjustified. In a majority of the cases documented by
Human Rights Watch, the use of force occurred in the context of protests that
were peaceful, according to victims, eyewitnesses, lawyers, and journalists,
who in many instances shared video footage and photographs corroborating their
accounts.[18]

In several of the cases we investigated, small groups of
individuals committed acts of violence at the protests, such as throwing stones
or bottles, or burning vehicles. In some instances, the evidence suggests these
acts were committed without provocation; in others, they appear to have been
committed in response to aggression by security forces. Regardless,
eyewitnesses and journalists who observed the protests consistently told Human
Rights Watch that the people who committed acts of violence at protests were a
very small minority—usually less than a dozen people out of scores or
hundreds of people present.

Yet despite the fact that acts of violence were isolated to
small groups, security forces responded by indiscriminately attacking entire
demonstrations, and in some cases bystanders. In at least six incidents we
documented, the indiscriminate use of force endangered people in nearby
hospitals, universities, apartment buildings, and shopping malls. These actions
by security forces threatened the wellbeing of hundreds of
bystanders—children among them.[19]

Rodrigo Pérez, 21, felt several
rubber pellets strike his back and head as he was running away from state
police officials who had opened fire with rubber bullets at demonstrators. The
demonstrators had been partially blocking traffic in Puerto La Cruz on March 7
to protest the government. Pérez—who was hit as he ran into a
nearby mall’s parking lot—hid in a store after being wounded, and
saw several members of government security forces enter the mall’s food
court and fire at unarmed, fleeing civilians, injuring two others.

Arbitrary
Arrests

In the scores of cases of detentions documented by Human
Rights Watch, the majority of the detainees were participating in protests at
the time of their arrests. However, the government routinely failed to present
credible evidence that these protesters were committing crimes at the time they
were arrested, which is a requirement under Venezuelan law when detaining
someone without an arrest warrant.[20]
On the contrary, victim and eyewitness accounts, videos, photographs, and other
evidence indicate that victims were participating peacefully in demonstrations
and not engaging in any criminal activity.

Some of the people detained, moreover, were simply in the
vicinity of protests but not participating in them. This group of detainees
included people who were passing through areas where protests were taking
place, or were in public places nearby. Others were detained on private
property such as apartment buildings. In every case in which individuals were
detained on private property, security forces entered buildings without search
orders, often forcing their way in by breaking down doors.

Luis Augusto Matheus Chirinos, 21, was
detained on February 21 in Valencia by approximately 10 members of the National
Guard at the entrance of a housing complex (urbanización), where he was
standing, waiting for a friend he had gone to pick up. An anti-government
demonstration was taking place nearby. He was taken to a military complex of
the Guard of the People, where he was beaten, threatened, and told to repeat
that Nicolás Maduro was the president of Venezuela. Matheus was held
incommunicado for two days and subsequently charged with several crimes, based
on what our research strongly suggests was planted evidence and a police report
that says he was arrested two blocks away from where he was actually detained.

Pedro González, 24, was visiting a
friend on March 3 who lives in an apartment building near a public square in
Caracas where a demonstration was taking place. When teargas began wafting into
the apartment, González went to the building’s enclosed courtyard
to get some air. Minutes later, police burst into the building’s
entrance, pursuing a protester. They grabbed González, threw him to the
ground, and dragged him out of the building, arresting him for no apparent
reason.

José Romero, 17, was stopped on
March 18 by national guardsmen when he was coming out of a metro station in
downtown Caracas. A guardsman asked to see his ID and, when Romero presented
it, slapped him across the face. Romero was detained without explanation and
taken to a non-descript building, where he was held incommunicado, threatened
with death, beaten, and burned.

Targeting
of Journalists and Others Documenting the Violence

In 13 of the cases of physical abuse documented by Human
Rights Watch, security forces targeted individuals who had been taking
photographs or filming protests. All but two were then arbitrarily arrested.
Roughly half of these individuals were professional journalists, while the
other half were protesters or bystanders using cell phones to document use of
force by security forces.

In these cases, when assaulting or arresting the victims,
security force members reprimanded them for taking pictures or filming. In
several instances, security force members told victims they were getting what
they deserved for trying to undermine the reputation of security forces, or
told them they did not want the images circulating online.

Dayana Méndez Andrade, 24, a
journalist, was covering a demonstration in Valencia on March 20 wearing a
vest with the word “Press” written in large letters across the
front, when national guardsmen began firing teargas and rubber bullets at
protesters. Méndezfled but was cornered together with a
photographer—Luis Rodríguez Malpica, 26—by several
guardsmen. When she and Rodríguez put up their hands and yelled that
they were journalists, a guardsman responded, “You’re taking photos
of me! You’re the ones that send the photos saying ‘SOS
Venezuela.’ You cause problems for the National Guard.” Then, from
a distance of a few meters, the guardsman fired at them with rubber bullets,
striking Méndez in her left hip and leg.

Ángel de Jesús González,
19, was taking photographs of a burnt out car after a march in Caracas on
February 12 when he was approached by four armed men in plainclothes. One of
the men told him to hand over his phone, which he did. Then the men (who
González later learned were government security agents) began to beat
him for no apparent reason, and detained him.

In these cases—as well as others involving the
detention of protesters and bystanders—national guardsmen and police
routinely confiscated the cell phones and cameras of the detainees. In the rare
instances when detainees had these devices returned to them, they routinely
found that their photographs or video had been deleted.

Collusion
with Armed Pro-Government Gangs

Security forces repeatedly allowed armed pro-government
gangs to attack protesters, journalists, students, or people they believed to
be opponents of the government with security forces just meters away. In some
cases, the security forces openly collaborated with the pro-government
attackers.

(Armed pro-government gangs that carry out these attacks are
often referred as “colectivos,” a term also used in
Venezuela to refer to a wide range of social organizations that support and, in
some cases, help to implement the government’s policies.[21]
The vast majority of these groups have not engaged in violent behavior. For
this reason, this report uses the term “armed pro-government gangs”
to refer to groups that carry out violent attacks that appear to be motivated
by loyalty to the government. Where the term “colectivo” has
been used, it is with the aim of accurately reflecting the way it was used by a
source.)

The response of government security forces to armed
pro-government gangs ranged from acquiescence and omission to direct
collaboration. In some instances, security forces were present when armed gangs
attacked protesters, but did nothing to disarm the gangs or protect their
victims. Rather, security forces stood by idly, or left an area shortly before pro-government
gangs attacked.

In other incidents, we found compelling evidence of
uniformed security forces and pro-government gangs attacking protesters side by
side.

National guardsmen and national police opened fire with
teargas and rubber bullets on students who were demonstrating in and around the
campus of the University Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado in Barquisimeto on
March 11. Wladimir Díaz, 20, who participated in the protest,
said government security forces operated side by side with more than 50
civilians, many of whom were armed with pistols and fired live ammunition at
the students. Díaz was shot in the abdomen when a mixed group of
government security forces and armed, masked civilians opened fire on the
university building where he was taking shelter.

In some cases documented by Human Rights Watch, armed pro-government
gangs detained people at or near protests, and then handed them over to
security forces. Those security forces, in turn, falsely claimed to have caught
the abducted individuals in the act of committing a crime, and prosecutors
subsequently charged them before a judge.

José Alfredo Martín Ostermann,
41, and Carlos Spinetti, 39, were detained on March 12 by armed
civilians as they walked near a pro-government rally in Caracas. The victims
were taken in plain sight of three national guardsmen, who did nothing to
intervene. The armed men beat Ostermann and Spinetti, shouted insults at them
that were political in tone (for example, accusing them of being “traitors
to the fatherland”), threatened to kill them, and photographed Spinetti
holding a planted weapon, before handing them over to police. Rather than
questioning the armed civilians, police detained the two victims.

Sandro Rivas, 30, left a demonstration and
was getting a ride home on the back of a motorcycle when he and the driver were
stopped by four armed men driving a pick-up truck. The plainclothes men forced
Rivas and the driver into the back of the pick-up, where they punched and
kicked them repeatedly and threatened to kill them. Then they drove them to a
National Guard checkpoint, where they told officers the detainees had been
“guarimbeando”—slang the government often uses to refer to
protesters who block roads. The guardsmen arrested the two men without once
questioning the armed men.

All of the people we interviewed who were abducted, or taken
captive, or attacked by pro-government gangs told us they were beaten severely,
or subjected to threats or insults that were political in nature.

Despite credible evidence of crimes carried out by these
armed pro-government gangs, high-ranking officials called directly on groups to
confront protesters through speeches, interviews, and tweets. President Maduro
himself has on multiple occasions called on civilian groups loyal to the
government to “extinguish the flame” of what he characterized as
“fascist” protesters. For example, in a speech on March 5
transmitted live as a mandatory broadcast (cadena nacional), Maduro
said:

... These groups of guarimberos,
fascists and violent [people], and today now other sectors of the
country’s population as well have gone out on the streets, I call on the
UBCh, on the communal councils, on communities, on colectivos: flame
that is lit, flame that is extinguished.[22]

Similarly, on February 16, the governor of the state of
Carabobo, Francisco Ameliach, issued a tweet calling on the Unidades de Batalla
Bolívar-Chávez (UBCh)—a civilian group formed, according to
the government, as a “tool of the people to defend its conquests, to continue
fighting for the expansion of the Venezuelan Revolution”[23]—
to launch a rapid counterattack against protesters. Ameliach said the order
would come from the president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, a
close ally of President Maduro. The February 16 tweet, which was later deleted
from his feed, said:

UBCH get ready for the swift
counterattack. Diosdado will give the order. #GringosAndFascistsShowRespect[24]

Abuses
in Detention Facilities

In most of the cases documented by Human Rights Watch,
detainees were held incommunicado for up to 48 hours, before being presented to
a judge. In many instances they were held in military installations.

being handcuffed to other detainees, sometimes in pairs
and others in human chains of dozens of people, for hours at a time; and

extended periods of extreme cold or heat.

Maurizio Ottaviani Rodríguez, 20,
was detained on February 28 when he was leaving a demonstration in Plaza
Altamira in Caracas. Despite having offered no resistance during the arrest,
Ottaviani told Human Rights Watch, the guardsmen beat, kicked, and stepped on
him. He was forced to board a school bus with more than 40 other detainees,
including several women and three minors. Each detainee was handcuffed to the
person on his or her side, and they were held on the bus for two hours, during
which time they were not allowed to open the windows to alleviate the heat
inside, which was stifling. The guardsmen hit people inside the bus with
batons, threatened to throw a teargas canister inside the bus, and told detainees
they would be sent to a violent prison. Detainees were then taken to the
military base Fuerte Tiuna, where they were held for almost a day, and were not
allowed to speak with their families or lawyers. As soon as they arrived, they
were all taken to a chapel and separated into three groups: men, women, and the
three minors. During this time, the men were handcuffed to each other in a
human chain.

Detainees also described being subjected to intrusive
physical exams by guardsmen, ostensibly to search for weapons or drugs, which
involved removing their clothes and being forced to perform squats while naked.
At least one of the detainees subjected to these degrading exams was a boy.

Detainees with serious injuries—such as wounds from
rubber bullets and broken bones from severe beatings—were denied or
delayed access to medical attention, exacerbating their suffering, despite
their repeated requests to see a doctor.

In the few instances in which detainees with serious
injuries were taken to a hospital or clinic, security officials interfered with
their medical care. Security officials refused to leave restricted medical
areas when asked; denied doctors the right to speak privately with patients or
carry out medical procedures without national guardsmen or police present; and
in some instances tried to take detainees out of facilities before they had
received adequate treatment or their condition had stabilized, against
doctors’ advice.

On February 19, a national guardsman fired at the face of
Gengis Pinto, 36, from point blank range with rubber bullets, despite
the fact that he had already been detained and was offering no resistance.
Pinto had been participating in an anti-government rally in San Antonio de los
Altos, where hundreds of protesters had blocked off part of a highway. Pinto
raised his arm to block the shot, which struck his hand, badly mangling several
of his fingers, and embedded several pellets in his forearm. Despite serious
pain, loss of blood, and several requests, guardsmen refused to take Pinto to a
doctor. Instead, they beat him, threatened to kill him, and took him to a
military base for questioning. Approximately six hours after being shot,
guardsmen took Pinto to an emergency clinic, where they refused to let the
doctor examine him privately. Though the doctor told guardsmen that Pinto
needed immediate specialty care that the clinic could not provide, guardsmen
ignored his advice and took Pinto back to the military base. There, he was
handcuffed to another detainee and made to sit in the sun for roughly 10 more
hours before being taken to a private clinic where he was operated on.

In several cases, national guardsmen and police also
subjected detainees to severe psychological abuse, threatening them with death
and rape, and telling them they would be transferred to the country’s
extremely violent prisons, even though they had yet to be charged with a crime.

In other cases, guardsmen and police warned victims not to
denounce the abuses they had suffered, suggesting false stories that detainees
should use to explain the physical injuries they had suffered at the hands of
security forces.

Clipso Alberto Martínez Romero, 19,
was participating in a demonstration in Valencia on March 20 when national
guardsmen on motorcycles rode towards the crowd firing teargas and rubber
bullets. He was knocked to the ground by guardsmen and kicked repeatedly, though
he and several eyewitnesses said he offered no resistance. Then a guardsman
stepped on Martínez’s head and fired rubber bullets at point-blank
range in his thigh. The shot struck a set of keys in his pocket, dispersing
metal shards as well as rubber pellets into his leg. Despite the serious pain
it caused, guardsmen forced Martínez to jog, then took him to a military
facility where he was made to strip naked for an invasive body search. Officers
repeatedly forced Martínez to clean his blood off of the floor with his
own t-shirt. He repeatedly asked to see a doctor, but was instead forced to
kneel with other detainees for several hours. The room where they were held was
kept at a very cold temperature by an air conditioner. When Martínez
asked an officer to turn it down, the officer responded by turning it up full
blast. Guardsmen came into the room where Martínez was being held to
mock him, and several took photographs of his bullet wound on their cell phones.
He was not taken to an emergency medical clinic until roughly three hours after
he had been shot. There, the medical professional said he was suffering from
hyperthermia and heart arrhythmia likely caused by trauma, and that he had lost
so much blood that he would die if he was not immediately treated at a
hospital.

Juan Sánchez, 22, was detained by
national guardsmen when he was walking to the bank on the outskirts of Caracas
on March 5. Earlier that day, Sánchezhad participated in a
protest in the neighborhood. Without warning, the guardsmen kicked him, beat
him, and fired a rubber bullet from point-blank range into his right thigh. One
of the guardsmen said, “Finally we got one. He’ll be our trophy so
these brats stop fucking around.”Sánchez was driven to a
military installation, where a dozen guardsmen forced him to take off his
clothes. One guardsman, who saw his bleeding leg, asked: “Does this
injury hurt?” and inserted his finger into the open wound, removed it,
and then inserted it again. The second time he took something out of his leg, but
Sánchez could not see if it was muscle tissue or a rubber bullet. Three
guardsmen then handcuffed him to a metal pole, gave him electric shocks twice,
and demanded that he tell them who his accomplices were. Afterwards, the
guardsmen took Sánchez to a patio where he was forced to fight with one
of them, while the rest watched, laughing and cheering. Sánchez was
taken to a hospital, where the guardsmen interfered with the doctor’s
efforts to treat him, and then was driven back to the military installation,
where guardsmen called him a “fascist” and continued to kick him,
threatening to send him to one of Venezuela’s most violent prisons.

Due
Process Violations

Under Venezuelan law, a detainee arrested while committing a
crime should be brought before a prosecutor within 12 hours of his or her
arrest. The prosecutor has up to 36 additional hours to investigate the case
and bring the detainee before a judge at a hearing, in which the detainee may
be charged with a crime or released.[25] During
this period, detainees have the right to communicate with their families,
lawyer, or person of trust, and to be immediately informed of the charges
against them.[26]

Human Rights Watch found that these fundamental due process
guarantees were violated in the vast majority of cases documented in this
report.

The detainees were routinely held incommunicado for extended
periods of time, usually up to 48 hours, and sometimes longer. While, in a few
exceptional cases documented by Human Rights Watch, detainees were released before
being brought before a judge, in the overwhelming majority of cases prosecutors
charged them with several crimes, regardless of whether there was any evidence
the accused had committed a crime.

Six people, two of them children, were
detained on February 18 for allegedly vandalizing the property of CANTV, the
government telephone and internet provider, in Barquisimeto. Yet while police
reports claimed the accused were caught fleeing the CANTV offices, various
witnesses and a video show at least four of the detainees were detained in a
different location. Apart from the police report, the only evidence presented
by the prosecutor against the detainees was an abandoned gas container found
near CANTV. In spite of the lack of evidence, a judge charged the detainees
with eight crimes, including damages to public property, the use of an
adolescent to commit a crime, and instigation to hate.

In virtually all of the cases we investigated, detainees
were not permitted to contact their families during the initial 48 hours of
their detention despite repeated requests to do so. Meanwhile, relatives of
detainees were routinely denied access to information regarding whether family
members had been detained and, even when they knew detentions had taken place,
where they were being held. Family members described traveling from one
security force facility to another in search of their loved ones, only to be
told they were not there. In several instances, authorities deliberately misled
families and lawyers regarding the whereabouts of detainees. When families were
able to determine the location of detainees—most often through the
unrelenting searches of lawyers and local human rights defenders—they
were consistently denied access to them, even when those detained were adolescents.

Albany Ottaviani went to a military installation in
Caracas on February 28 to inquire about the whereabouts of her brother, Maurizio
Ottaviani Rodríguez, 20. He had been detained earlier that day at a
protest by national guardsmen. At the installation, she said a colonel told her
and 15 other family members waiting outside that they could be arrested for
standing in a military zone. The family members promptly left for fear their
presence might lead to retaliation against their relatives, who they believed
were being detained on the base. The following morning, family members returned
to the base, where guardsmen told them they would provide a bus to take the
families to a courthouse, where the detainees were going to be tried. Families
got on the bus, but guardsmen instead drove them around the city for several
hours before dropping them off at a location that was not where hearings were
to be held.

Angélica Rodríguezwent to look for
her husband, Jesús María Toval, on a military installation
in Barquisimeto on February 21—the day after he had been detained by an
armed pro-government gang and handed over to national guardsmen. She said a guardsman
told her that there was no list with names of detainees being held there, so
they could not tell her where her husband was on the base. Two hours
later—only after Rodríguezbroke down crying—a
different guardsman approached her and quietly told her that Toval was indeed
being held at the base. Yet Rodríguez and her husband’s lawyer
were not allowed to see Toval until two days later, when he was brought before
a judge for his hearing.

Lawyers told Human Rights Watch that detainees were
routinely moved from one detention center to another during their incommunicado
detention—a practice referred to as “taxi driving” (ruleteo)—without
informing detainees, their families, or lawyers where they were being taken, or
when they would be taken before a judge.

Detainees were also denied access to legal counsel during their detention.
Lawyers who were able to determine where detainees were being held—in
many cases by deducing where they would be taken based on eyewitnesses’
accounts of where they had been detained, and by which security
force—were not allowed to meet with them, despite repeated requests.

Virtually all detainees were not allowed to meet with their defense lawyers
until minutes before their initial hearing before a judge. Lawyers and
detainees alike told Human Rights Watch that these meetings usually occurred in
the hallways outside of courtrooms, in front of police and court officials as
well as other detainees (to whom they were sometimes handcuffed), denying their
right to a private audience.

Lawyers, like detainees, usually learned of the charges against detainees at
the hearings, or at the earliest, minutes before they began. They had virtually
no time to review relevant court documents, such as police arrest reports or
inventories of supposed evidence, which was critical to defend their clients.
Lawyers told Human Rights Watch that this access was denied even in cases in
which hearings were delayed for hours—time during which they could have
met with detainees or reviewed case files.

Hearings were routinely and inexplicably held in the middle
of the night, a practice that lawyers interviewed by Human Rights Watch had not
experienced in other types of cases. Lawyers told Human Rights Watch that,
night after night, they were forced to wait for hours in courts, in military
facilities, or in other where places hearings were held, without receiving any
plausible justification for the delay. This routine was physically exhausting,
wasted time they could have dedicated to defending other detainees, and made it
even harder for them to provide an adequate defense.

According to various lawyers and detainees—as well as
judicial files to which Human Rights Watch had access—prosecutors’
accusations, and the eventual charges brought against detainees, were based
almost exclusively on police reports and, in several instances, on what detainees
plausibly said was planted evidence. In addition, individuals who were detained
separately, at different times or in different locations—and who in many
cases did not even know each other—were sometimes charged by prosecutors
in a single hearing with the same crimes, sometimes using the same piece of
evidence for all of the accused, such as a piece of barbed wire.

Instead of thoroughly reviewing the evidence provided by
prosecutors and detainees—the latter’s physical appearance alone in
many cases provided compelling evidence of abuse—judges routinely
rubber-stamped the charges presented by prosecutors.

While most of those charged were granted conditional liberty
in the cases we investigated, judges repeatedly placed conditions (medidas
cautelares) on detainees’ freedom that prevented them from exercising
their fundamental rights to freedom of assembly and expression, such as
prohibiting them from participating in demonstrations or talking to the media.

Marco Aurellio Coello, 18; Luis Felipe
Boada, 25; Cristian Holdack, 34; Nelson Gil, 22; Demian
Martin, 19; and Ángel de Jesús González, 19;
were arbitrarily detained on February 12 in six different places in or around
Carabobo Park in Caracas, where a largely peaceful demonstration ended in
violent incidents that led to at least three deaths, dozens of people injured,
and the burning of several official vehicles. The six men—who did not
know each other before that day—were subject to severe physical abuse
during their arrest and at the headquarters of the investigative police in the
area, where they were all held incommunicado for 48 hours. During their
detention, they did not have access to their lawyers and were not permitted to
see their families. At 11 p.m. on February 14, they were brought before a judge
and charged with several crimes based on evidence presented by the prosecution
that included clothes that security officials had stained with gasoline, and
photographs of unidentifiable individuals engaged in confrontations with
security forces placed alongside the men’s mug shots taken at the police
station. At 5:30 a.m. on February 15, the judge confirmed the prosecution of
the six men and ordered their pretrial detention. Four of them were granted
conditional liberty on April 1, and released while awaiting trial.

Dozens of lawyers and human rights defenders told Human
Rights Watch that, in a country where prosecutorial and judicial independence
has been significantly undermined in recent years, they had grown accustomed to
encountering obstacles to defending detainees. However, all said the situation
had worsened dramatically after February 12. Never before, they said, had they
encountered such a comprehensive battery of obstacles affecting so many cases.

Officials
and Security Forces Who Intervened to Help Detainees

It is important to note that not all of the security force
members or justice officials encountered by the victims in these cases
participated in the abusive practices. Indeed, in some of the cases, victims
told Human Rights Watch that security officials and doctors in public hospitals
had surreptitiously intervened to help them or to ease their suffering.

In a few instances, national guardsmen quietly passed a cell
phone to detainees being held incommunicado, so that they could call their families
and tell them where they were, or snuck them food or water. Some security
officials furtively told human rights lawyers the whereabouts of detainees, or
tipped them off as to when the detainees would be brought before a judge. In
several cases, doctors and nurses in public hospitals—and even those
serving in military clinics—stood up to armed security forces, who wanted
to deny medical care to seriously wounded detainees. They insisted detainees
receive urgent medical care, in spite of direct threats— interventions
that may have saved victims’ lives.

Fear of Reporting Abuses

Many victims and family members we spoke with said they
believed they might face reprisals if they reported abuses by police,
guardsmen, or armed pro-government gangs. Victims also expressed fear that,
were they to report abuses, the Attorney General’s Office would fabricate
charges against them, or—in cases in which victims had already been
accused of crimes—that judges would punish them by wrongfully convicting
them, or revoking their conditional liberty if it already had been granted.

A lawyer from the Catholic University Andrés Bello,
who coordinates the work of a team of criminal lawyers who have assisted
hundreds of detainees in Caracas, told Human Rights Watch that “in almost
no cases” do victims have the confidence to file a complaint with the
Attorney General's Office.[27] He
added, “People don’t bring complaints because they don’t
trust institutions. They fear who will protect them if they do.”[28]

Many victims traced these fears to threats they received
from security forces during their detentions. Not only were detainees subject
to repeated death threats, but several victims of severe physical abuse said
that security forces had explicitly told them not to say how they had been
hurt. In several cases we investigated, government security forces even went so
far as to suggest false stories that victims of abuse should use to explain how
their injuries had been sustained. Others were told they would not be released
unless they signed documents saying they had not been abused during their
detentions. Victims saw these exchanges as a clear threat not tell the truth
about what had happened to them.

Guardsmen told Gengis Pinto, 36, who had been
beaten, given electric shocks, and shot at point-blank range by guardsmen after
being detained at a protest, to say that he had run into a post and been hit in
the face with a bottle by a fellow demonstrator.

Nelson Gil, 22, who was beaten by
plainclothes police, was told by investigative police who observed his injuries
to say he fell and was punched by fellow protesters.

Keyla Brito, 41, her 17-year old daughter,
and six other women who were detained in a military installation where they
were beaten and threatened by guardswomen, were forced to sign a document
saying they had not been abused in exchange for authorities releasing them
without charging them with a crime.

Lisandro Barazarte, 40, a photographer for
the newspaper “Notitarde” in Valencia, said he feared for his life
after his photographs of armed pro-government supporters firing pistols on
protesters were published. Barazarte received multiple death threats after the
photos appeared in the newspaper. “I live in suspense, because I
don’t know from where they are going to shoot at me,” he said.
“At any moment something could happen to me.” At the time he spoke
to Human Rights Watch, he had not placed a complaint about the threats with
officials, out of fear he would be targeted for revenge attacks.

Several victims expressed fear that reporting crimes could
lead to the loss of employment for them or their family members who worked for
the government. In several instances, these threats were made explicit.

A victim who was beaten, shot, and threatened with death
after being arbitrarily detained by national guardsmen told Human Rights Watch
that, not long after he was released, members of the intelligence services
(Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, SEBIN) brought in his father
for questioning. The victim said his father was a career officer in the
Venezuelan military. SEBIN officers told the father that if his son continued
to take part in demonstrations or filed a complaint, the father would be
considered a “counterrevolutionary” and would lose his job. The
victim said that he had stopped participating in demonstrations since his
father’s conversation with SEBIN, and would not file a complaint with
authorities for the abuses he had suffered, for fear it would cost his
father’s job.

Another victim who was arbitrarily detained and beaten by
an armed pro-government gang said one of the reasons he had not filed a
complaint was out of concern he could lose his job. An employee of a government
ministry, he told Human Rights Watch, “I know that at any moment they
could fire me.” He said he had intentionally steered clear of political
activities since the incident.

The reluctance to report abuses is compounded by a deep and
widespread distrust of the justice system itself. Victims and their lawyers
were extremely skeptical that prosecutors and judges who belong to the same
institutions as those who had violated their rights would act with impartiality
and professionalism when handling their abuse claims.

José Alfredo Martin Ostermann, 41,
who was abducted by members of an armed gang as he walked with a friend near a
pro-government rally in Caracas, beaten in plain view of national guardsmen,
and then handed over to police, said he did not plan to file a complaint with
authorities because they were collaborating directly with his abusers. “I
was beaten, threatened, and detained in front of the National Guard—which
is supposed to be a state body—and they simply turned around and walked
away.” He added, “They know [about this] at the prosecutors’
office and the police, and they are not doing anything.” Placing a
complaint, he said, “may even be counterproductive. It could lead to
vengeance.”

Victims’ lack of confidence in the justice system was
underscored by cases in which government officials informed detainees and their
families that the cases against them were being pursued on political grounds.

Obstacles
to Accountability

The Venezuelan state should ensure that any acts of violence
or serious crimes are rigorously investigated and that those responsible for
them are held accountable. These include crimes allegedly committed by
protesters, as well as abuses committed by government security forces.

Under international law, the Venezuelan government also has
an obligation to conduct prompt, thorough, and impartial investigations of
human rights violations, including those documented in this report, as well as
other abuses reported by victims and local human rights defenders and abuses
reported in the press.[29]

President Maduro and Attorney General Luisa Ortega
Díaz have acknowledged that security forces have committed human rights
violations in the context of demonstrations since February 12. Both have
pledged that those responsible for abuses will be investigated and
prosecuted. According to the government, as of April 25, the Attorney
General’s Office was conducting 145 investigations into alleged human
rights violations, in which 17 security officials had been detained for their
alleged involvement in these cases.

While these investigations are a welcome start, there are
good reasons to doubt the ability of Venezuelan authorities to ensure that the
abuses are investigated in an impartial and thorough manner and that those
responsible for them are brought to justice.

One reason is that many abuses are likely to go unreported
because of the widespread and well-founded fear and distrust that victims feel
toward the Venezuelan justice system.

Another reason is that, in many of these cases, the
investigative police, the Attorney General’s Office, and the judiciary
are themselves implicated in serious due process violations, as well as in
failing to intervene to address abuses by security forces against detainees.
Consequently, any thorough investigation will require these institutions to
investigate their own misconduct—which is likely to give rise to serious
conflicts of interest and severely compromise the credibility of their
findings.

A third reason is the fact that the Venezuelan judiciary has
largely ceased to function as an independent branch of government. As Human Rights
Watch has documented in past reports, the Supreme Court has effectively
rejected its role as a guarantor of fundamental rights, with several justices
publicly committing themselves to supporting the political agenda of the
government. Lower-court judges are under intense pressure to avoid rulings that
could upset government officials, as most have temporary or provisional
appointments and risk being summarily fired by the Supreme Court if they rule
in favor people perceived to be opponents of the government.[30]

Given the chronic underreporting of abuses and lack of
independence of Venezuelan investigative and judicial institutions, it is
troubling that the president, the attorney general, and other senior government
officials—while acknowledging the need for accountability—have
repeatedly said abuses against protesters have been rare and publicly defended
the conduct of security forces. The attorney general, for example, claimed
abuses by security forces were “isolated incidents” and that
security forces generally “respect human rights.” Meanwhile,
President Maduro said that only a “very small number of security forces
personnel have also been accused of engaging in violence,” and that the
government had “responded by arresting those suspected.”[31]

It is also troubling that the government has repeatedly
sought to blame its political opponents, or simply the opposition as a whole,
for the violence without providing credible evidence. For example, on March 14,
President Maduro said that, “[a]ll of the cases of people who have been
killed are the responsibility of the violence from protests (la violencia
guarimbera)—all of them—from the first to the last.”[32]
While, at that time, Maduro said the investigation into these and other crimes
had made significant progress and provided numbers of alleged protesters
detained, he did not indicate that anyone had been convicted for the crimes.[33]
On March 15, President Maduro said that, “practically all Venezuelans who
have died, regretfully, are the responsibility of the violence of the
right.”[34]

Similarly, despite compelling evidence of attacks by armed
pro-government gangs on civilians, ranking government officials have denied
their existence, or accused them of pertaining to the opposition. For example,
on April 13, President Maduro said that, “the opposition had not provided
any evidence that shows that the revolutionary colectivos are
responsible for violent actions.” He added that, in contrast, the
government had detained “supporters of the right [wing] for committing
terrorist acts.”[35]

Cabello also said on April 10 that the only “armed colectivos”
belonged to the opposition, and are the ones “who kill people at the guarimbas.”
His statement implied not only that there were no armed pro-government gangs,
but also that killings at barricades had been committed by anti-government
armed groups, an assertion for which he did not provide proof, such as cases in
which people had been convicted for these crimes.[36]

In another example of blaming the opposition for the violence,
the government accused Leopoldo López, a prominent opposition leader, of
being the “intellectual author” of the protest-related deaths on
February 12. The Attorney General’s Office promptly sought his arrest for
several alleged crimes—initially including homicide, a charge it was
forced to drop when video footage appeared showing security force members
shooting at unarmed protesters on the date in question. López has been
held in pretrial detention on a military base for more than two months despite
the government’s failure to produce credible evidence that he committed
any crime. The Attorney General’s Office has also obtained arrest
warrants for Carlos Vecchio and other opposition figures, while the Supreme
Court has summarily tried and sentenced two opposition mayors to prison terms,
in judicial proceedings that violated basic due process guarantees.[37]
The Supreme Court’s rulings are not subject to appeal, which violates the
right to appeal against a criminal conviction.[38]

Recommendations

To President Nicolás Maduro

Order all security forces immediately to stop mistreatment and
violence against protesters already in custody, and all other uses of unlawful
force during crowd-control operations, and abide by international norms on the
use of force;

Order all security forces not to collaborate with or tolerate
acts of violence or other illegal acts by armed pro-government gangs; and take
steps to ensure disarmament of any group in possession of illegal weapons or
engaged in illegal armed activity, as well as detain them when they commit
crimes;

Ensure respect for freedom of expression, in particular ensure
that journalists and ordinary citizens are allowed to record and document
protest activity and the response by government security forces without
suffering reprisals;

Do not make public statements that could be interpreted as
incitement to commit violent acts; ensure that other senior officials do not
make such statements; and do not make unfounded accusations against protesters
or political opponents, or attribute criminal responsibility to them for
violent acts, which could constitute undue political interference with judicial
investigations and processes and undermine the presumption of innocence of
detainees;

Order that detainees should not be held on military bases under
any circumstances; and

Ensure that Venezuela fully complies with international human
rights standards by holding accountable all members of security forces who
commit human rights violations.

The president should guarantee cooperation with
international human rights monitoring bodies to ensure Venezuelans can have
access to the international mechanisms available under human rights norms.
Specifically, the Maduro administration should:

Immediately agree to the
outstanding visit requests by the Special Rapporteur on Torture, the
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, and
the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, and
schedule them for as soon as possible, as well as issue a standing invitation
to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention;

Work with the National Assembly
to recognize the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights,
and adopt all necessary measures to comply with and implement its rulings;
and

Allow the Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights to conduct in-country research in Venezuela.

To the Attorney General’s Office

Review all charges brought
against individuals in connection with the protests; drop charges against
those who were improperly arrested, or for which authorities lack credible
evidence of the criminal responsibility of the accused; and seek the
immediate and unconditional release of anyone detained under such improper
charges;

Ensure that all alleged human
rights violations are subject to prompt, thorough, and impartial
investigations;

Investigate cases of alleged
human rights violations in which victims have filed a complaint before the
Attorney General’s Office, as well as serious allegations reported
in the media and by international and local human rights groups;

Carry out prompt, thorough, and
impartial investigations into all acts of violence by citizens in the
context of protests, independent of the political affiliation of the
suspects or victims;

Respect the due process rights of
all suspects, and order prosecutors and investigative police officers to
do so; and warn that justice officials who violate these rights will be
held accountable; and

Investigate, and hold to
account, public officials who violate due process norms, including through
ignoring or covering up abuse of suspects, employing evidence known to
have been planted or manipulated, or failing to uphold the rights of
suspects.

To the National Assembly

The president of the National Assembly should take necessary
actions to remedy the damage done to the independence of the judiciary over the
past decade. In 2004, a court-packing law allowed the government and its
supporters to pack the Supreme Court with political allies. As Human Rights
Watch has documented in previous reports, the Supreme Court has largely failed
to act as a check on executive power and guarantor of international human
rights. The lack of judicial independence of Venezuela’s highest court
has had a negative impact on lower court judges, most of whom lack security of
tenure and may be removed at will by the Supreme Court’s Judicial
Commission.

All of the current 32 Supreme Court justices were appointed
after the passage of the 2004 court-packing law. At this writing, 11 positions
are filled by “substitute justices,” despite the legal requirement
that permanent ones be appointed when there are permanent vacancies. The
majority of these “substitute justices” have been acting as
justices for over a year.

In March 2014, as part of the dialogue with the political
opposition, President Maduro stated that the National Assembly would initiate
the process of appointing permanent justices to the Supreme Court.

The National Assembly should:

Immediately carry out the legal
processes provided for in the Constitution and the Organic Law on the
Supreme Court to select permanent justices to all existing vacancies in
the court—by a two-thirds majority vote—through a selection
process that is open, transparent, and ensures the broadest possible
political consensus; and

Repeal the provisions of the
Organic Law on the Supreme Court that undermine the Court’s
independence by allowing justices to be removed by a simple majority vote.

To the Supreme Court

Restore its role as an
independent guarantor of fundamental rights by upholding basic rights, no
matter the political affiliation of the parties in the case; and

End the practice by which the
Judicial Commission appoints judges without granting them security of
tenure and then removes them at will, and adopt mechanisms to ensure that
all judges are appointed to positions with security of tenure through open
and public competitions, as required by the Venezuelan Constitution.

To All Leaders of the Political Opposition

Emphatically and categorically appeal to their supporters not to
commit acts of violence;

Emphatically and categorically condemn unprovoked acts of
violence by protesters that occur in the context of demonstrations in which
they participate; and

Ask members of opposition parties in the National Assembly to
actively collaborate with the legislature and engage in its actions to restore
the independence of the judiciary.

To Protesters

All protesters should exercise their right to demonstrate
peacefully without committing acts of violence against private citizens, state
agents, or private or public property.

To the International Community

Foreign governments should engage with the government of
Venezuela to ensure that the kinds of abuses documented in this
report—including excessive use of force, abuses in detention facilities,
and due process violations—are immediately brought to an end, and that
those responsible are brought to justice.

In particular, Latin American governments belonging to
regional bodies to which Venezuela is a party—such as MERCOSUR, UNASUR,
and the Organization of American States—should uphold their commitments
to protect and promote basic rights and respect democratic institutions, by
engaging the Venezuelan government and insisting that these serious human
rights problems be addressed.

Methodology

This report is based on in-depth interviews with more than
90 people, including victims of human rights abuses, as well as their families,
medical professionals who attended to them, journalists, and human rights
defenders. Human Rights Watch researchers also interviewed more than a dozen
lawyers who provided legal counsel to hundreds of people detained at or near
protests when they were brought before a judge.

The interviews were conducted primarily during a Human
Rights Watch research mission to Venezuela in March 2014, which included visits
to Caracas, Valencia (Carabobo state), Barquisimeto (Lara state), and Los
Teques (Miranda state). Some of the interviews were conducted via telephone,
email, or Skype prior to and following the fact-finding mission. Human Rights
Watch researchers also interviewed additional victims, lawyers and human rights
defenders in the states of Anzoátegui, Barinas, Guyana, and Maracaibo,
though their cases are not included among the 45 cases documented in this report.

In nearly all of the cases included here, Human Rights Watch
obtained and reviewed additional evidence—such as photographs, video
footage, medical reports, judicial rulings, or eyewitness testimony—that
corroborated the victim’s account. Human Rights Watch also observed
first-hand and photographed physical injuries the victims said had been
inflicted by security forces, including gunshot wounds from live ammunition,
scars, contusions, bullet wounds (from rubber pellets and metal pellets fired
from less-lethal weapons), burns, and other wounds. Human Rights Watch bases
its conclusions on the credibility of alleged abuses on a careful assessment of
the quality of this corroborating evidence, as well as whether the detailed
accounts provided by the victim were consistent, both internally and with
patterns and practices documented in other cases.

All those interviewed were informed of the purpose of the
interview, its voluntary nature, and the ways in which the information would be
used. Interviewees were told they could decline to answer questions or end the
interview at any time. All provided oral consent to be interviewed. None
received compensation.

In most of the countries where Human Rights Watch works, the
practice is to seek meetings with government officials to discuss and seek
information regarding the issues it is reporting on. This has been our practice
in Venezuela as well. Between 2002 and 2007, Human Rights Watch staff held
meetings with President Hugo Chávez, senior members of his
administration, justices of the Supreme Court, the attorney general, members of
the National Assembly, and numerous officials in multiple government
agencies.

However, when conducting research for this report, Human
Rights Watch deliberately chose not to establish contact with government
officials or draw public attention to our presence in the country. This
decision was made out of concern for possible repercussions for victims, human
rights defenders, and other interviewees, the risk of compromising our ability
to conduct the research, and the safety of our staff. We also took into account
the fact that the Venezuelan government detained and expelled Human Rights
Watch representatives from the country in 2008, and declared that our presence
would not be “tolerated” there.

To obtain the government’s perspective, we contacted the
Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office via fax and email to request information
regarding investigations into human rights violations allegedly committed by
security forces, as well as acts of violence allegedly committed by protesters.[39]
At this writing, we have not received a response from the Venezuelan
government.

We also reviewed statements made by President Maduro and
several of his cabinet ministers, the attorney general, the head of the Armed
Forces, top officials from the National Bolivarian Police, the Bolivarian
National Guard, and the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigative Police,
governors, mayors, and legislators. We reviewed statistics, reports, and press
releases produced by the Attorney General’s Office about alleged violent
incidents and human rights violations related to the protests. We conducted an
extensive review of judicial documents, news accounts in state media outlets,
twitter feeds of government officials, and other official sources, to evaluate
the Venezuelan government’s position with respect to specific incidents
in the report, as well as its evaluation of the overall performance of security
forces in the context of protests.

Numbers
of Cases of Abuse and Victims

The report describes in detail the abuses suffered by 45
victims of serious human rights violations, which we refer to as “cases.”
Human Rights Watch interviewed the victims in the vast majority of these cases.
In nine of them, we did not interview the victim, but obtained testimony from
the victim’s family, lawyer, and/or eyewitnesses. In some of those cases,
we also reviewed official court documents, photographs, and other evidence that
corroborated these accounts. The most common reasons Human Rights Watch was not
able to interview victims in these nine cases directly were because they were
in jail, had been killed, or were prohibited from discussing their case by a
judge.

Not all of the cases in the report are described in the same
level of detail. Nonetheless, their inclusion indicates that we have
determined, based on a careful review of evidence, that they are credible cases
of human rights violations.

Many of the victims in these cases were subject to
violations alongside other people, and were therefore direct witnesses to
abuses suffered by others. This included abuses committed during arrests and
while in detention facilities, as well as due process violations before or
during judicial hearings.

In many cases, for instance, a detainee was literally
handcuffed together with other detainees for hours at a time. Detainees were
routinely presented before a judge in groups, thereby sharing a hearing with
other detainees whose alleged charges were the same as their own. As such,
detainees could speak credibly to the nature of arrests, detention conditions,
due process violations, or other abuses experienced by other victims.

Only when Human Rights Watch was able to gather evidence
corroborating a victim’s account of the abuses they had seen committed
against other people around them—such as a separate testimony or court
rulings that proved victims were indeed charged with other people—did we
include these individuals within the tally of people who were victims of abuse.

To cite an example: Dayana Méndez Andrade, Luis Rodríguez
Malpica, and Clipso Alberto Martínez Romero were detained on March 20,
2014, when national guardsmen on official motorcycles stormed into a protest in
Valencia, Carababo state, firing teargas and rubber bullets at demonstrators
and people nearby. In separate interviews with Human Rights Watch,
Méndez, Rodríguez, and Martínez all said that, in addition
to them, three other people had been detained by guardsmen—a total of six
detainees.

We decided that Méndez, Rodríguez, and
Martínez’s claim that three additional people were detained with
them was credible due to the fact that their accounts concurred, and that they
were held together with the other detainees (first at a gas station and then at
a military installation). Also, because Méndez, Rodríguez, and
Martínez all said that they and the other detainees had been held in the
same room on the military base—and that guardsmen had refused to let any
of them call their families or a lawyer—we decided it was reasonable to
conclude that the due process rights of all six detainees had been
violated.

Therefore, while we would count the abuses against Méndez,
Rodríguez, and Martínez as “cases” documented by
Human Rights Watch (because we interviewed them directly), we also can credibly
assert that at least three additional people detained in the same protest were
the victims of incommunicado detention and other due process violations while
being held on a military facility.

Background on Venezuelan Security
Forces

The security forces mentioned in this report include the
following:

National Guard

The Bolivarian National Guard (Guardia Nacional
Bolivariana) is part of the Venezuelan Armed Forces, together with the
Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. While the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force
have primary responsibility for conducting military operations to protect
national defense, the National Guard’s primary responsibility is
“conducting required operations to ensure internal order of the
country.”[40] (The
National Guard is also charged with cooperating with other Armed Forces in
protecting national defense.) On March 15, President Maduro, who is the
commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, said that 20,000 national guardsmen
were being deployed in Venezuela in operations related to responding to
protests.[41]

In 2011, then-President Hugo Chávez created the National
Command of the Guard of the People (Comando Nacional de la Guardia del
Pueblo) to support the operations of the National Guard,[42]
of which it is a part.[43] At the
time, Chávez said it would focus on preventing the commission of crimes in
remote parts of the country.[44]

Police

In 2008, the government of Venezuela created the National
Bolivarian Police (Policía Nacional Bolivariana, PNB) and
enacted measures to promote non-abusive policing proposed by a commission
comprised of government and NGO representatives.[45]
The PNB began operations in 2009,[46] and as
of April 2014, there were 14,478 PNB officers working in 8 of Venezuela’s
23 states.[47]

While the Venezuelan Constitution provides that public
security operations will be conducted by a national police force, states and
municipalities have concurrent policing powers in their own jurisdictions.[48]
In the three states where Human Rights Watch conducted research, the PNB and
state police forces were both involved in responding to protests; in Caracas,
PNB and municipal police forces carried out operations.

The Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigative Police (Cuerpo
de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas, CICPC)
is charged with carrying out investigations to support the work of prosecutors
in investigating crimes.[49] Members
of the CICPC report to the minister of the interior, justice, and peace, who in
turn reports to the president.[50]

In 2010, then-President Hugo Chávez
created the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Servicio
Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, SEBIN)to replace the National
Directorate of Intelligence and Prevention Services (Dirección
Nacional de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención, DISIP). SEBIN
reports to the Ministry of the Interior, Justice, and Peace, and its main
responsibilities include “assist[ing] the executive branch in the
elaboration of public policies on security,” “plan[ning] and
execut[ing] activities to contribute to the Nation's stability and security,”
and “perform[ing] activities as an auxiliary body of investigation in the
areas of its competence.”[51]

Illustrative Cases

The five illustrative cases that follow—which occurred
on different dates, in three states and Caracas—provide a detailed
picture of the succession of abuses suffered by people detained at or near
protests. These include the use of unlawful force at the time of their arrests;
beatings and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment while in detention;
and due process violations committed with the acquiescence or complicity of
prosecutors and judges.

Valencia,
Carabobo State, March 20

At approximately 2 p.m. on March 20, between 150 and 200
people held a peaceful protest along a highway in Valencia.

Human Rights Watch interviewed four individuals separately
who were present at the demonstration, and whose accounts corroborated one
another:

Dayana Méndez Andrade,
24, who works for the newspaper Notitarde and who attended the
demonstration in her capacity as a journalist and was carrying press
credentials;

Luis Rodríguez Malpica,
26, freelance photographer, who attended the demonstration in his capacity
as a journalist and was carrying press credentials;

Marlon José Maldonado
Vargas, 44, a lawyer, who participated in the demonstration; and

Clipso Alberto Martínez
Romero, 19, a student, who participated in the demonstration along
with his sister.

While Méndez and Rodríguez attended the
demonstration together, none of the others knew each other prior to their
detention.

According to separate interviews with Méndez, Rodríguez,
Maldonado, and Martínez, the demonstrators had partially blocked the
road, but were allowing cars to pass.[52] State
police officers (policía de Carabobo) monitored the protest
throughout the afternoon without engaging with demonstrators. Around 6:30 p.m.,
the interviewees confirmed independently, the police told the protesters that
if they did not disperse voluntarily, they would be removed. While most of the
protesters left, about 50 stayed on the highway.

At approximately 6:45 p.m., a group of around five masked
men arrived near the protest, set a truck on fire (with no passengers inside of
it), then left. The protesters and journalists interviewed by Human Rights
Watch said they did not recognize the masked men as participants in the
demonstration, and that the men never approached the other remaining
protesters.

Fifteen minutes later, more than 50 national guardsmen
arrived on motorcycles and rode towards the protesters, firing teargas and
rubber bullets at them with no warning, they said. The protesters and
journalists ran off in various directions.

Martínez, Maldonado, journalists Méndez and Rodríguez,
and at least two other people fled down a residential street near the highway,
where they were hemmed in on two sides by national guardsmen on
motorcycles.

Attack on Journalists

As the guardsmen fired teargas and rubber bullets,
journalists Méndez and Rodríguez took shelter in the entranceway
to an apartment building. Shortly thereafter, three National Guard motorcycles
stopped in front of them. Méndez and Rodríguez were both wearing
gas masks; Méndez was wearing a bulletproof vest that said,
“PRESS,” in large, white letters; and Rodríguez was carrying
a professional camera. They yelled that they were journalists and raised their
hands above their heads. One of the guardsmen yelled, “You’re
taking photos of me! You’re the ones that send the photos saying
‘SOS Venezuela.’ You cause problems for the National Guard.”[53]

Then, from a distance of a few meters, the guardsmen fired
on them with rubber bullets and lobbed teargas canisters at them. Both turned
their backs. Méndez was struck with rubber bullets in her left hip area
and leg, the wounds from which she showed Human Rights Watch during an
interview three days after the incident.[54] (The
injuries sustained were later confirmed by a doctor who attended to Méndez.[55])
When they had stopped shooting, the guardsmen told the journalists to stay
where they were, and then left.

Within a minute or two, a different group of National Guard
members on motorcycles stopped in front of the doorway, yelling
“We’ve got two here.” Again, Méndez and Rodríguez
yelled that they were journalists, and again national guardsmen fired on them
without provocation. Rodríguez said that the guardsmen fired in the
direction of their heads and that—had he not pushed Méndez’s
head out of the line of fire—she would have been hit in the face.[56]
Rubber pellets struck the arm he had used to push her head out of the way, and
one grazed her face.[57]

After firing on them, a guardsman approached Méndez
and asked why she was wearing a bulletproof vest. When she responded that it
was because she was a journalist, the guardsman said, “You’re not a
journalist, you’re a bitch made of shit.” (No eres una
periodista, eres una perra de mierda.) The guardsman pulled off her gas
mask and then Rodríguez’s. He pointed a rifle at Rodríguez’s
face, saying, “Give me everything you have.” The guardsman took Rodríguez’s
backpack, containing his IDs and press credentials, demanded the memory card of
his camera, and left. Within minutes, a third wave of guardsmen arrived on
motorcycle, firing teargas towards the doorway where Méndez and Rodríguez
were still trapped, now without gas masks.[58] A
guardsman took Méndez’s cell phone and her bulletproof vest, and
detained the two journalists.

Attack on Unarmed Protesters

Martínez, who had been participating in the protests,
also fled when National Guard motorcycles approached, and was trapped on the
same street as Méndez and Rodríguez.[59]
There, he was knocked to the ground by a passing guardsman on a motorcycle, and
then surrounded by about a dozen guardsmen, who kicked him repeatedly all over
his body though he offered no resistance, he told Human Rights Watch.

When the beating stopped, he lifted himself up and held out
his wallet to the officers, saying it was the only thing he had on his person.
In response, he said, the guards, “Grabbed me by the head, threw me to
the ground, put a boot on my face and shot me.” He was shot him in the
thigh at point blank range. The rubber bullet struck a set of keys in his
pocket, blowing metal fragments from several keys into his leg. He said he did
not feel any pain at first due to the shock, but reached down and touched an
exposed part of the bone on his leg.

Maldonado, who was trapped on the same street, did not know Martínez,
but saw what happened. He described Martínez’s beating, recounted
how Martínez was shot at point blank range, and provided other details
corroborating Martínez’s account.[60]

Maldonado said Martínez was one of four people that
he saw national guardsmen shoot on the street from point blank range. He told
Human Rights Watch that, from his vantage point halfway down the street, he saw
one of the guardsmen give orders to others to shoot the individuals. None were
resisting arrest or posed a flight risk, Maldonado said. In each instance, the
guardsman gave the same order: “Give it to this one,” after which
the individuals were shot.

Maldonado was then himself stopped by national guardsmen and
interrogated. He told them he was moving his car, which was on that street, and
they let him go.[61]
(Maldonado believed he aroused less suspicion because he was older than the
other demonstrators and, having come from work, was dressed in business attire.
In addition, his car was actually located on the street; he had parked it there
before the protest.)

After the guardsmen left, Maldonado collected several of the
shell casings of the bullet rounds fired and individual pellets from weapons
shot by the guardsmen. In addition to rubber pellets, he found a handful of
metal pellets on the ground where officers had been firing, which he showed to
Human Rights Watch.[62]

According to Maldonado, one of the victims who he had
witnessed being shot from point blank range had fled when guardsmen moved on to
pursue another person. The wounded man had been given refuge in a house on the
street, and was not detained by police. Maldonado, concerned for the man’s
wellbeing after the incident, had tracked him down in a clinic where several
wounded protesters had gone to seek treatment. Maldonado shared photographs
with Human Rights Watch of the wounds the man had suffered. The photographs
show entry wounds to the victim’s upper right buttocks and left foot.[63]
Despite the abuses he suffered, the victim told Maldonado he did not want to
file a complaint with the prosecutor’s office, fearing he would be
falsely charged with committing a crime for having participated in the protest.

Abuses in Detention

Despite the fact that they were not committing a crime and
police did not have an arrest warrant, Méndez, Rodríguez, and Martínez
were detained by the National Guard, along with at least five other individuals
at and around the protest. At least one of those detained was a boy, according
to the three detainees interviewed by Human Rights Watch, who spoke with the boy
while they were being detained.[64]

They were made to walk nearby gas station, where they were
held temporarily. Martínez said guardsmen forced him to walk quickly, at
some points even forced him to jog, despite the serious wound he had suffered
and the visible pain it caused him. When he slowed down, he said, he was beaten
and threatened. One of the guardsmen yelled at him, “Hurry up! Hurry up!
Because if you don’t we’re going to break a rifle on your
head.”

At the gas station, they asked each of the detainees who
they were and what they were doing at the demonstration. The boy who had been
detained, who told guardsmen he was 14, said he had been dropped off by his
grandmother near the demonstration.[65] She was
trying to drive him to his father’s house but could not get through on
account of the demonstration, so she’d left him nearby and told him to
walk. The boy said he had been walking towards his father’s house when he
had been picked up by national guardsmen, beaten, and detained. Despite saying
his age, none of the officers accorded him special treatment appropriate for
his status as a child.

When Méndez’s turn came, she said that she was
a journalist covering the gathering for Notitarde. A guardsman
responded, “Notitarde is fascist. You’re the fascist squalid
ones that are attacking the government. Now live with the consequences.” Arriving
next at Martínez, one of the guardsmen asked what had happened to his
leg. When Martínez told him, according to Méndez, the guardsman
said, “That it was nothing—that he had fallen.”

From there, the detainees were loaded into state police
vehicles and driven to a military facility (Destacamento 24), according
to three of the detainees. When they arrived at the facility, each of the
detainees was subjected to a full body search.

Martínez said an armed guardsman took him into a room
and told him to remove all of his clothes. On seeing his leg covered in blood,
the officer made no effort to inquire about his wound, or whether he needed
medical attention. According to Martínez, as he was putting his clothes
back on, the officer said, “When you are done getting dressed,
you’ll clean this,” pointing to the blood on the floor from his
wound. When Martínez said it would be difficult to bend over because of
the pain in his knee, the officer said, “You clean this or you’ll
get a broomstick to the head.” Martínez cleaned the floor with his
own shirt.

After their body searches, the detainees were made to kneelwith their hands on the backs of
their heads for approximately three hours. During this time, Rodríguez
said, those who moved were struck on the backs of their heads.

Martínez said that, over the course of several hours,
he repeatedly requested medical attention, as did several of the other
detainees on his behalf. But their requests were denied. Multiple times,
guardsmen forced Martínez to clean his blood off the floor with his
shirt.

The room where the detainees were being held was extremely
cold, with an air conditioner blasting cold air in the direction of where they
were squatting. Martínez was so cold that he began to shudder
uncontrollably, his suffering likely exacerbated by his loss of blood. Martínez
said that when he asked an officer to turn off the air conditioner, the officer
responded, “Lower it for you? Are you fucking kidding?” Then, he
said, the officer turned up the cool air to full blast. Méndez and Rodríguez
both independently witnessed the same exchange, and recounted it to Human
Rights Watch in nearly identical terms. During this time, several officers came
by to see Martínez, pointing and laughing at his wound, and a few took
pictures of it on their cell phones.

Méndez, seeing that Martínez had lost a lot of
blood and was drifting in and out of consciousness, asked for permission to tie
a tourniquet around his leg, which guardsmen allowed her to do. Around 10:30
p.m., guardsmen took Martínez, Méndez and a third detainee, who
had suffered a fractured nose from a kick to the face, to a military medical
clinic.

Obstruction of Medical Treatment

A medical professional at the clinic described to Human
Rights Watch the injuries with which the three arrived, corroborating the
victims’ accounts. Martínez, the professional said, had a
“wound by gunfire in the lateral femur region of the interior left side,
which was of large magnitude, with an entry wound but not an exit wound,
compromising deep muscular tissue.”[66] Martínez
was also experiencing “a hypertension crisis as well as a rapid heart
arrhythmia associated with the psycho-traumatic state in which he found
himself,” and was suffering from hyperthermia. According to the medical
professional’s “knowledge and the characteristics of the wound, it
appeared to have been produced by a rifle with bullets of the silicone type and
inflicted at point blank range.”[67]

As the medical professional was inspecting Martínez’s
wounds, three national guardsmen who were present began taking pictures with
their cell phones. The medical professional told the guardsmen this made the
professional “uncomfortable and was not permitted.”[68]
One of the guardsmen responded that the photos were needed for the Attorney
General’s Office, but did not explain further, and continued to take
pictures.

The medical professional said that the other detainee
appeared to have suffered a fracture of the nasal passage or septum; and that Méndez
had suffered “multiple wounds” from pellets to her face, limbs,
abdomen, and other parts of her body, as well as a hematoma on her right knee.

The medical professional insisted that Martínez and
the other detainee be taken promptly to the hospital, because the military
clinic was not properly equipped to care for their urgent needs.[69]
The ranking guardsmen—a captain—said they would transport the
detainees. Afraid they would be taken back to the base, the medical
professional obligated the captain to sign a form taking responsibility for the
lives of the detainees if they were not immediately taken to the hospital,
which the captain signed.[70]
According to the professional, Martínez’s wound
“could cost him his life if it was not attended to immediately by a
specialist.”[71]

Martínez’s mother said that,
upon learning that her son had been detained, she went to the Guard of the
People and the National Guard to see if they were holding her son, but both denied
any knowledge of Martínez’s arrest or whereabouts.[72] She said she learned what had happened to him only because a person
at the military medical clinic where her son had been treated notified her secretly
that he was being taken to the hospital.

National guardsmen tried to handcuff Martínez
when he arrived at the hospital, but medical staff refused, he said, leading to
a ruckus. They also tried, on several occassions, to enter the room where he
was being treated, but hospital staff would not allow them in.

When Martínez’s mother arrived
at the hospital, she found approximately five national guardsmen armed with
rifles and pistols outside of the patient room where he was being treated. Martínez’s
older brother, who was with his mother, told the guardsmen there was no need to
hover around his room, because he posed no flight risk, and that they were
terrifying his brother and mother.[73] In response, one of the guardsmen pointed at him and warned,
“We know who you are. Let’s see what happens to you.”

Martínez was operated on at 2 a.m.,
and a second time the following day, at 6 p.m. According to Martínez’s
mother, doctors told her that the impact was only millimeters away from an
artery that, if it had been struck, likely would have killed Martínez.
The surgeons removed five fragments of the keys that were in his pocket, as
well as a handful of rubber pellets. A copy of the medical report obtained by
Human Rights Watch confirms Martínez arrived at the hospital on March
21,[74] and that he arrived with a “large orifice” caused by a
gunshot to his knee.[75] The report confirmed that, in surgery, doctors found
“multiple projectiles” and “metal objects made of various
fragments of keys.”[76]

Medical documents provided by Martínez’s
family confirmed his injuries and that the incident had caused severe mental
trauma. A medical report dated March 22—two days after the incident—said
that Martínez continued to experience a “persistent pain of strong
intensity,” from the gunshot wound, and that he needed to remain
hospitalized to monitor his condition and prevent infection.[77]

On his second night in the hospital, Martínez
said, he awoke to find one of the guardsmen standing next to his bed, staring
at him. He began to scream and the guard left the room. Martínez said he
felt, that the moment his family and medical professional left him alone, the
guardsmen would take him away and terrorize him. He added, “I see a guard
and I get nervous,” and said he needed to be sedated to sleep in the
hospital.

An exam conducted by an independent
clinical psychologist, and provided by Martínez’s family,
diagnosed Martínez with “severe stress disorder,” describing
his state as “frightened,” disoriented, and exhibiting signs of
“shock.”[78] The psychologist who examined Martínez also said he was
experiencing regular flashbacks, causing him to relive the traumatic experience
he had undergone.

Human Rights Watch interviewed Martínez
on March 23, 2014, in the hospital, where he was still confined to bed. Four
national guardsmen stood guard outside his door; his family said they were
always there. Martínez said he and three other detainees have been
charged with use of an adolescent to commit a crime (uso de adolescente para
delinquir); obstruction of a public roadway (obstaculización de vía
pública); public incitement to commit crimes (instigación
pública); and resisting authority (resistencia a la autoridad).

Méndez, for her part, was returned
to the military base after she was examined by the doctor. She and Rodríguez
were released the following morning, at 4:30 a.m., without being charged.

El
Carrizal, Miranda State, March 5

At 8 a.m. on March 5, Moisés Guánchez,
a 19-year-old student, went to his day job at a fast food restaurant in La
Cascada mall, in the municipality of El Carrizal, Miranda state.[79]
Since early that morning, a demonstration had been taking place on the highway
that passes in front of the mall. He said he began to hear shots as early as 10
a.m. Around 12:30 p.m., his boss decided to close the restaurant, and he and
his co-workers began to clean up. When they went to leave around 2 p.m., they
found that private security guards employed by the mall had locked its main
entrance, locking several employees and customers inside the mall complex. By
then, teargas had begun to waft into the mall, and Guánchez, who is
asthmatic, made his way to the mall’s open-air parking lot, which was
located between the mall and the street, and enclosed by a gate.

Approximately 40 other people were in the lot, he said,
including six children. From there, he observed National Guard members firing
teargas canisters towards protesters on the highway and people in apartment buildings
throwing bottles down on the highway.

Guánchez told Human Rights Watch that national
guardsmen began launching teargas canisters and firing rubber bullets at people
who were trapped in the parking lot. Then, approximately four official National
Guard motorcycles, with 2 guardsmen on each, broke into the parking lot, firing
rubber bullets as they drove towards the group. Guánchez said he and
others started running towards the mall to seek refuge.

Guánchez found his path blocked by a motorcycle, turned,
and began running in the other direction, towards a parking lot exit. As he
ran, he said he heard a guardsman yell, “There! There! Shoot him!"
The guardsman riding on the back of the motorcycle behind him fired five or six
times in his direction, but none of the shots hit him. At that moment,
Guánchez saw another motorcycle in front of him stop, while a guardsman
on the back raised his rifle towards his face. He reflexively raised his arm to
protect his face, and felt an impact on his arm, where he had been shot. Again
Guánchez changed directions, and as he ran he heard several more shots
fired. He felt several impacts on his buttocks, and fell to the pavement.[80]

By this point, he said, between eight and ten National Guard
motorcycles had entered the parking lot. Two guardsmen walked towards him and
picked him up. A man with a video camera and a bullet proof vest that said
“Operations Command" (Comando Operaciones) in white lettering
was filming as guardsmen assaulted him, Guánchez said. Amateur photographs
taken by a witness show Guánchez cornered against a gate by national
guardsmen, while a man with a video camera in their company appears to be
filming.[81]
Each national guardsman took hold of one of his arms and started punching him
repeatedly in the ribs. (Guánchez and his mother said they were unaware
whether investigators had recovered the video from the cameraman, whose face is
clearly visible in the photographs.)

Then, a third guardsman approached Guánchez—who
was offering no resistance—pointed his rifle at his genitals, and fired.
Guánchez moved his leg defensively, causing the shot to strike him
directly in the leg and graze his testicles. According to a forensic medical
report, Guánchez had injuries produced by “multiple bullets [shot
at] at close range.”[82]

Guardsmen forced Guánchez—whose pants were
soaked in blood and was experiencing severe pain from the several shots he had
sustained—to walk across the parking lot and get on a motorcycle between
two guardsmen. The guardsman sitting behind him pointed a handgun at his head
and threatened to kill him if he moved.

When the guardsmen found the gate to the parking lot locked,
they forced Guánchez to get down from the motorcycle and made him jog
over to the highway, where he was made to wait. The pain from his wounds was
extreme, he said.

A group of pro-government civilians on motorcycles were
congregated on a bridge above where Guánchez was held, he said. The men
yelled down at the guardsmen that they should let him bleed to death, and said
they would kill him themselves if he did not die, and would run him over with
their motorcycles. Guánchez said that one the guardsmen laughed. The
presence of the men on motorcycles was corroborated by photographs shared with
Human Rights Watch, which show men on motorcycles above where Guánchez
was held, apparently yelling down at him.[83]

After about 15 minutes, the guardsmen handcuffed
Guánchez and loaded him onto a black pick-up truck with no license
plates.[84] During
the ride, the guardsmen riding with him mocked Guánchez, saying he would
never be able to have children, and called him a "fag" (marica).
The guardsmen also said that if he bled to death on the way over, they were
going to dump his body in a canal. The guardsmen threatened to rape him with a
broomstick,[85] and
send him to prison with rapists. They stole his money, two cell phones, his
backpack, and a gold chain, all of which his mother later reported as stolen to
the National Guard.[86]

The guardsmen brought Guánchez to a hospital. Upon
arriving, they did not allow hospital staff to bring a stretcher to carry him
into the emergency room, forcing him to instead walk, despite the excruciating
pain it caused. Guánchez collapsed upon entering the emergency room.
When doctors asked guardsmen to help lift his body onto a stretcher, they
refused.

When doctors asked guardsmen to remove
Guánchez’s handcuffs, they at first claimed they had lost the key.
It was only when a doctor threatened to have the handcuffs cut off that one of
the guardsmen produced the key and unlocked Guánchez. The guardsmen
would not leave the emergency room, despite repeated requests by the medical
staff.

When the doctors learned the guardsmen had not notified
Guánchez’s family, one obtained his father’s number from him
and contacted him.

He was given three blood transfusions and operated on
immediately to remove five rubber bullets from his leg, which
Guánchez’s mother later showed Human Rights Watch.[87]
Doctors also located rubber bullet wounds in his arm (from when Guánchez
said he had protected his face) and his buttocks. Guánchez was also operated
on for damage to one of his testicles, which a medical report shared with Human
Rights Watch confirms.[88] Photographs
of Guánchez’s wounds and additional medical reports were also provided
to Human Rights Watch.[89]

That same day—according to Guánchez’s
mother, who arrived at the hospital shortly after being notified by
doctors—a National Guard colonel arrived at the hospital and asked the
doctors for information on her son’s health. The colonel ordered two
armed guardsmen to remain stationed in the hallway outside of
Guánchez’s room. Guánchez’s mother said she and the
medical staff found their presence very intimidating.

On March 7, a hearing was held in Guánchez’s
hospital room. A prosecutor charged him with public incitement to commit crimes
(instigación pública) and attacks undermining security on
public roads (atentado contra la seguridad en la vía). The
prosecution evidence was a police report that said Guánchez had a
teargas mask in his backpack, and that they had found “in the place where
he was detained” (en el lugar donde fue detenido) 19 Molotov
cocktails, 12 miguelitos, and 30 meters of barbed wire in his backpack.[90]
(“Miguelitos” refer to small objects with protruding nails
used to puncture the tires of vehicles or motorcycles.)

The judge, however, ruled there was no evidence to charge
Guánchez with any crime, and that he was to be granted liberty.[91]
Guánchez’s family showed the ruling to Human Rights Watch.[92]
According to a medical report reviewed by Human Rights Watch, Guánchez was
told he could not resume his studies nor work at least until April 14.[93]
On April 11, Guánchez had a second operation to remove fluid from his
wounded testicle. His mother said he was in pain and remained in bed.[94]

Caracas,
February 12

On February 12, Marco Aurellio Coello,
18; Luis Felipe Boada, 25; Cristian Holdack, 34; Nelson Gil,
22; Demian Martin, 19; and Ángel de Jesús
González, 19, were arbitrarily detained in six different locations
near the Carabobo Park in Caracas.[95] That
day, a largely peaceful demonstration in the area ended in violent incidents
that led to at least three deaths, dozens of injuries, and the burning of
several official vehicles.

The six men—who did not know each other before that
day—were picked up separately and subjected to severe physical abuse
during their arrest and at the headquarters of the investigative police in the
area (CICPC), where they were all held incommunicado for 48 hours. The six,
whom Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed in the detention facility where
they were being held at the time, describe how they came to be detained:

Coello said he had been running
away from where violent confrontations had erupted between protesters and
security forces when a teargas canister hit his leg. He fell to the street
and was engulfed in teargas. As he was struggling to breathe, a group of
about eight men in plainclothes assaulted him, beating him as he lay on
the ground. They then grabbed him and took him to the nearby CICPC
station, where three police officers took him to a bathroom, pointed a gun
at his head, and doused his shirt and body with gasoline. They wrapped a
thin mat around his body, tied it with tape, and approximately 10 officers
kicked him and beat him with sticks, a golf club, and a fire extinguisher
on his ribs and upper body. When they took off the mat, they gave him
three electric shocks on his chest, he said. Throughout the whole time,
the police officers told him he should confess he had burned official
vehicles that day. Coello said he did not confess because he had not done
it.

Boada said that when he heard
gunfire he ran away from the confrontation and hurried into the lobby of a
nearby apartment building. CICPC officers broke into the building, beat
him, and detained him. When he arrived at the CICPC station, he was also
taken to a bathroom where officials doused his clothes with gasoline, and
threatened to set him on fire. He had his hands handcuffed behind his
body, and more than 10 officials hit and kicked him in his back and ribs.
After one of them beat his head using a helmet and he fell, another
whipped him with a wet rag in his back and face.

Holdack was filming civilians
beating demonstrators when approximately four men—whom he told Human
Rights Watch were officers—grabbed him by his hair, beat him, and
detained him. When he arrived at the CICPC headquarters, he was thrown to
the floor, where officials kicked him. One of them said: “We don't
want those videos circulating in social networks.”

Gil was grabbed by three officers
in plainclothes in the plaza, who immediately started punching him in the
ribs and the face. He said that the officers doused his hands in gasoline
while taking him to the CICPC headquarters. By the time he arrived, one of
his eyes was swollen shut from a punch. When another officer asked him
what had happened, Gil said he had been beaten by police. The officer told
him he was wrong—and that in fact he had fallen. Another officer
threatened to kill him.

Martin was taking photographs of
the confrontations with his cell phone when four men in plainclothes,
armed with pistols, approached him and tried to take him away. He HJHHe told us that because the men never
identified themselves, he feared they were armed civilians, and tried to
flee. The men grabbed him by his ponytail, sprayed his face with pepper
spray, and beat him all over his body, yelling “damn opposition
member” (maldito opositor). They continued to beat him on the
head using a helmet as they transported him to the CICPC police station.

González said he was
taking photographs of burned cars when five armed men in plainclothes
approached him, confiscated his phone, and detained him. Though he offered
no resistance, he said he was beaten on the way to the CICPC headquarters.

After they were detained, all six men were forced to kneel
facing a wall, with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, for
approximately four hours. Human Rights Watch obtained a copy of a picture that
an unknown source inside CICPC took of the men kneeling against the wall and had
shared surreptitiously with their families.[96] Police
officers repeatedly kicked the detainees, or hit them on the back of the head,
slamming their faces into the wall.[97]

During their two-day detention at the CICPC station, the six
men did not have access to lawyers and were not permitted to see their
families. Coello’s mother told Human Rights Watch that on February 13 she
visited another CICPC station and headquarters of the intelligence police
(SEBIN) to find out where her son was detained, and officials would not tell
her whether his son was detained there.[98]

On February 14 at 11 p.m., the six men were brought before a
judge together with 10 other people detained on February 12. They were
only allowed access to lawyers half an hour or less before the hearing, and
were forced to speak to them in front of officers from the National Guard, who
stood nearby. The defense lawyers were only able to see the prosecution’s
evidence a few minutes before the first hearing.[99]

The prosecution presented the fact that the detainees’
clothes were stained with gasoline as evidence, the detainees said. They also
presented photographs of the detainees’ faces, taken when they were held
in detention, alongside photographs of unidentifiable individuals engaged in
confrontations with security forces, according to lawyers present at the
hearing. For example, the evidence presented to implicate Gil included two
photographs: a mug shot of him taken at the CICPC and another of a man seen from
behind as he is throwing a stone towards security forces. The prosecution
showed the photograph of a man who was wearing different clothing from what he
was wearing when detained, Gil said. Similarly, in some of the other cases, the
prosecution presented photographs of men throwing rocks at security officials,
photographed from behind, or with their faces covered by bandanas or hoods,
alongside the mug shots taken of the detainees by the police. The prosecution
also presented photographs of a bottle with gasoline, and signs that
demonstrators had held during the rally lying on the street.[100]

At the hearing, which occurred during the night and lasted
several hours, the prosecutor charged the six men with incitement to commit
crimes (instigación a delinquir), fire (incendio),
property damage (daños), and association to commit crimes (agavillamiento).
The six were accused of collaborating with each other in the commission of
crimes, despite the fact they had never met before being brought to CICPC
station for their detention. At 5:30 a.m. on February 15, the judge confirmed
the charges against the six men and ordered they be held in pretrial detention.
The judge granted the other 10 detainees conditional liberty.[101]
There was no explanation given at the hearing as to why the two groups were
treated differently.

The judge ruled that there had been no violation of the
detainees' due process rights because they had been taken before a prosecutor
and a judge within the timeframe provided for by Venezuelan law.[102]

The six men were then moved to the Polichacao police station
in Caracas, where they were not mistreated, they told Human Rights Watch. A
month and a half later, on April 1, a judge re-confirmed the charges against
them.[103] At
this writing, only Coello and Holdack remained in pretrial detention; the other
four had been released on conditional liberty.[104]

Barquisimeto,
Lara State, March 11

On March 11, civil engineering student Wladimir
Díaz, 20, participated in a protest in Barquisimeto, in Lara state,
in and around the Universidad Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado (UCLA),
together with hundreds of students from the university and others in the area.[105]
In the morning, students closed off part of the road outside of the school, but
allowed cars to pass, Díaz said. Around 40 to 50 pro-government
demonstrators arrived around midday, and yelled insults at the students.

Around 1:30 p.m., a National Guard armored anti-riot vehicle
drove towards the students on the road, from which officers fired rubber
bullets and teargas.[106] Some
students threw rocks at the vehicle, while most retreated onto the campus,
which is encircled by a wall. National guardsmen and police on foot also began
to fire teargas and rubber bullets on the retreating students, Díaz
said. They were joined by around 50 to 60 men in civilian clothes, most of whom
had covered their faces with red bandanas. Díaz said some of the
plainclothes men were from the group of pro-government demonstrators who had
confronted student demonstrators earlier. Many were now armed with pistols, he
said, and began to open fire on the students with live ammunition.

Despite standing meters away and seeing these armed men fire
on the students, national guardsmen and police made no effort to disarm them
and at several points conferred with them, Díaz said. His testimony was
corroborated by various photos taken by students who participated in the
protest that day, copies of which were obtained by Human Rights Watch.[107]
Human Rights Watch also interviewed three professors, who, when they heard
gunshots, hid in an office on campus with over a dozen students. They said they
heard “constant firing” over the course of next several hours.[108]

As Díaz retreated into the campus, one of the
plainclothes men pointed at him and said, “You’re going to get some
lead.”

Díaz then went to the university’s dining hall;
while he was there, a group of approximately 20 national guardsmen, five
national police officers, and five armed civilians with their faces covered
entered an unlocked building that was connected to the dining hall, and started
firing at students. Díaz said he felt an impact in his abdomen,
“which felt like a kick,”[109] and
turned to flee. After a few steps, he felt blood coming out of the wound and
could not run.

Other students carried the injured Díaz to a
different part of the campus, and then took him, via motorcycle, to a nearby
clinic. From there an ambulance took him to the Hospital Pastor Oropeza. At the
hospital, members of the National Guard and the investigative police (CICPC)
told the medical staff Díaz should be transferred to a military
hospital, according to Díaz and his mother. They said it was unclear to
them and doctors at the facility why security forces believed that they had a
right to say where he was treated, and that he and his family found the armed
guardsmen intimidating.[110]
Díaz’s mother insisted he be taken to a different private clinic,
where he was operated on.

Part of Díaz’s intestine was removed in the
operation, he said. The doctor who operated on him said that the size of the
bullet hole, and the fact that it passed through his body and exited out his
back, was consistent with a wound caused by live ammunition rather than a
rubber bullet. A medical report provided to Human Rights Watch also stated that
Díaz had a wound inflicted by a “firearm.”[111]

San
Antonio de los Altos, Miranda State, February 19

On February 19, around 500 demonstrators, including men,
women, and children, closed off a section of the highway in San Antonio de los
Altos with makeshift barricades. Gengis Pinto, 36, had been at
the protest since the afternoon,[112] while Luis
Alberto Gutiérrez Prieto, 26, and his brother arrived around 7 p.m.[113]
Pinto and Gutiérrez, who did not know each other at the time and whom Human
Rights Watch researchers interviewed separately, told us that while protesters
had closed off part of the road, demonstrators were allowing cars to pass at
reduced speed.

Around 8 p.m., a group of riot police from the National
Guard arrived, firing teargas at demonstrators. Several demonstrators responded
by throwing rocks and glass. At this time, several of the guardsmen fired live
ammunition at protesters, according to Pinto and Gutiérrez, who said
they saw them firing handguns, which are not used to fire rubber bullets. Gutiérrez
said he also was able to distinguish the sound of a bullet being fired from the
sound of rubber bullets being fired.[114] The
guardsmen withdrew after approximately 15 minutes. Gutiérrez said he
recovered at least 10 bullet casings after they had left.

Not long after, a metrobus (used for public transport) approached
the barricade. Rather than slowing down, it sped up, nearly hitting several
demonstrators, according to Pinto and Gutiérrez. Several protesters
responded by throwing rocks and bottles at it. Government officials said the
bus driver was removed from his vehicle and physically assaulted by
demonstrators. Venezuela’s transportation minister, for example, said in
a tweet that “violent people…beat [the driver] with brutality.”.[115]
Pinto and Gutiérrez, who were at the demonstration at the time and said
they witnessed the incident, told Human Rights Watch the bus had not been
stopped and the driver had not been taken off it. By this time, the number of
protesters had dropped to around 200, as the majority of children and elderly
people left.

Around 9:30 p.m., a large group of security forces from the
National Guard arrived on the scene by motorcycle. According to Pinto and Gutiérrez,
between 50 and 100 motorcycles—often with two officers on each
one—rode towards the barricade, with the officers on them firing teargas
and rubber bullets. An amateur video of the incident filmed from an apartment
complex overlooking the highway where the barricade had been placed
corroborates their account.[116] Gutiérrez,
Gutiérrez’s brother, Pinto, and many others fled.

Gutiérrez said he was soon surrounded by guardsmen
who told him to lie face down with his hands and legs extended away from his
body. As he lay there, he heard guardsmen beating and insulting another person
nearby, as the detainee pled with them to stop. At that moment, he said, he
heard the footsteps of someone approaching, and then felt a piercing impact on
the left side of his face, where an officer had kicked him. He said the impact
made a loud crack and blood immediately began to pour from his face. Within
moments, he said, he felt difficulty breathing. A guardsman picked him up and
walked him to a wall along a parking lot, where he counted six other detainees.
They were all forced to get on their knees, facing the wall, with their hands
on their heads.

Pinto also fled, but was soon surrounded by approximately 10
guardsmen, and placed his hands in the air. He said a guardsman approached him
with his rifle pointed at his face. When the officer was between two and three
meters away, Pinto lifted his arm to protect his face. At that moment, he said,
he heard the sound of a shot and felt multiple impacts. The main blow was to
his hand, which had been directly in front of his face. Had it not been there,
he said, the main impact would have struck him in the center of his face.
Later, doctors would remove 8 rubber pellets from the area around his eye,
hand, shoulder and chest.

Pinto fell to the ground where, within moments, he felt
three or four bursts of electric current applied to his body (he did not see
the device that was used to apply the shocks), and multiple kicks to his body.
He was then picked up off the ground and taken to the nearby wall bordering the
parking lot.

Pinto and Gutiérrez said that they were among the
first detainees to be brought over to the wall. Within a half hour, more than
40 people—including four women and four boys, they said—would be
brought there, where they too were made to kneel with their hands on their
heads.[117]

Pinto and Gutiérrez estimated they were there between
an hour and two hours. They said that guards would come by every few minutes
and, if the detainees were moving—and in some cases for no apparent
reason—strike them on the backs of their heads with their helmets or their
fists.[118] Guards
came by and told them to remove their shoelaces, which they then used to bind
their wrists. Another guard came by and robbed all of the detainees of their
valuables, taking cell phones, wallets, watches, and bracelets.

More and more motorcycles arrived behind them, and several
guards came by to threaten them. Gutiérrez said one of the guards said
to the group of detainees that they were going to strip them naked, soak them
with water, and lock them in a small room where they were going to throw
teargas canisters, so that their skin would burn from the gas. Pinto remembered
one saying, “we’re going to disappear you.”

Around 11 p.m., the 44 detainees were loaded into the backs
of pick-up trucks. Gutiérrez said they were packed tightly with other
detainees in the back of one of the trucks. By the time officers went to load Gutiérrez
into a truck, there was no room left. As a result, officers forced him to squat
on the backs of other detainees. Because his wrists were still bound, preventing
him from holding onto anything, he was terrified he would fall out of the truck
on a turn. He said when he told the guards this they laughed.

The detainees were brought to a military installation (Liceo
Militar Pedro María Ochoa Morales, PMOM), where they were called one
by one to be interviewed by a woman in uniform, who others referred to as
“lieutenant.”. She took their photo and asked for their names and
ID numbers. Gutiérrez said that, upon seeing the blood and significant
swelling on his face from where he had been kicked, the lieutenant said,
“Ouch, they gave it to you bad.”

Pinto and Gutiérrez said they both repeatedly told
the guardsmen they were in serious pain, and needed medical care. Pinto said
several of his fingers had been disfigured from the shot, and his hand was in
serious pain, while Gutiérrez said he was having trouble breathing as a
result of the kick, which had fractured several bones in his face. Pinto, Gutiérrez,
and three other seriously wounded detainees—who had been shot with rubber
or else beaten badly—were separated out from the others.

One of the seriously injured was a boy. His ribs had been
badly bruised from a kick by a guardsman who detained him, he told Gutiérrez
after they were separated out from the other detainees. The boy was having
difficulty breathing from the pain in his ribs, he said.

While they were separated out from the other guards, Pinto
and Gutiérrez both confirmed independently, multiple guardsmen
approached them to ask how they had been injured, and to suggest an alternate
version of what had happened. Gutiérrez said a guardsman approached him
and asked, “What happened to you?”

“A kick,” Gutiérrez answered.

“From whom?” the guardsman asked

“From the guardsmen,” Gutiérrez said.

“That won’t work,” the guardsman said.
“What happened to you is you ran into a streetlamp. Better, a friend of
yours broke a bottle on your face so you would continue to man the
barricade.”

The Hospital

It was not until approximately 2 a.m.—roughly three
hours after they had arrived at the military facility, and over four hours
after they had been detained—that the seriously wounded detainees were
taken to see a doctor.

Pinto said more than six guardsmen accompanied them into the
hospital. One doctor, upon seeing the condition they were in, reprimanded the
guards in front of the detainees, calling them “savages” for what
they had done to the detainees. In response, one of the guards said to him,
“You tend to them now, or I’ll lock you up.” The doctor
responded, “Are you going to kill me too?” according to Gutiérrez.

The guardsmen forbade the doctors from recording the arrival
of the patients, according to Gutiérrez and Pinto, as was their standard
practice. Gutiérrez said that his mother, who is a nurse, later went to
the hospital to check its register for that evening, in which the names of all
of the patients are entered. She said there was no record of the five detainees
that night.

When doctors asked to contact the family members of the
detainees, the guardsmen also refused. One doctor insisted the families be
called, saying they had a right to know. A guardsman responded that if the
families showed up at the hospital, the doctors were going to have problems,
Pinto told Human Rights Watch.

After reviewing the injuries of the detainees, the doctors
said that they needed specialized medical care, which they were not equipped to
provide at the facility. The ranking officer refused to transfer the detainees
to another facility, telling the doctors they had explicit orders to take the
detainees back to the military base. One of the five detainees was taken to a
different part of the hospital; Gutiérrez and Pinto did not see him
again. The remaining four were handcuffed together in pairs and, around 5 a.m.,
returned to the military base, against the doctors’ recommendation.

Pinto and Gutiérrez were taken to an open-air
courtyard of the military installation, where the other approximately 40
detainees were being held. The sun rose around 6 a.m., and the detainees were
left in the intense sun all day. Gutiérrez and Pinto said they and the
other detainees repeatedly asked for medical attention, but it was denied. Both
said they were experiencing serious pain, due to the fact that the doctors at
the clinic had only been able to clean their wounds, but were not able to treat
the serious injuries they had.

Around 3 p.m., investigative police came and took their
names, identification numbers, and fingerprints. Then, the detainees were taken
in groups of 10 people for a medical inspection, a procedure during which
military officers were present.

Pinto said he was taken to a private clinic at approximately
6 p.m., nearly a full day after he had been detained. There, according to a
medical report, he was treated for wounds to his right hand, his left elbow,
and his left eye.[119] During
the interview, Pinto showed Human Rights Watch X-rays of his left elbow and
right hand that showed multiple rubber pellets embedded under the skin, and
provided a copy of the X-ray analysis.[120] An
ophthalmology exam found that Pinto’s left eye suffered trauma from the
shots, noting pain, tearing up, and blurred vision as a result of the injury to
his eye.[121]

Gutiérrez arrived at the emergency room at the same
time—approximately 2 a.m.—where he was diagnosed with “facial
cranial trauma,” serious nasal bleeding and “disfigurement”
of his frontal and nasal region.[122] A
subsequent, more extensive physical examination found severe disfigurement of
his nasal pyramid, with crushed bones and multiple fractures in his face.[123]
Gutiérrez required multiple surgeries to reconstruct and realign the
bones in his face and nasal area, and said a metal bridge had to be implanted
in his forehead and another in his nasal area.

Hearings before a judge for Pinto and Gutiérrez were
held in the medical facilities where they were being treated. Both were charged
with obstruction of roadways (obstruccion de vías), resisting
arrest (resistencia al arresto), damage to public property (daños
a bienes públicos), and association to commit a crime (asociación
para delinquir).

An Eyewitness Account of their Detention at the Military Installation

On February 21, a lawyer from the Venezuelan Observatory of
Prisons (Observatorio Venezolano de Prisiones), a Venezuelan human rights
organization, was briefly granted access to the military installation where
Pinto and Gutiérrez had been held until 6 p.m. on February 20, and where
other people detained in the same incident were still being held. The
lawyer’s account corroborates many of the conditions that Pinto and Gutiérrez
described, as well as ongoing abuses against the other detainees.

The lawyer had been in touch with several detainees’
families on February 20, who had informed her that their relatives were being
held on the military base.[124] She
went there early in the morning of February 21, and found many families
congregated outside of the main entrance. The families told her they had not
been allowed to enter, and that the national guardsmen at the gate would not
confirm whether their relatives were being held inside.

After repeated requests to meet with a ranking official to
find out who was being held at the installation, the lawyer was brought onto
the military base by a captain. The captain took her to a room that resembled a
cafeteria and told her to wait there. The room looked out onto the courtyard
where dozens of detainees were being held, she said. “The men were all
handcuffed in pairs, including the minors, only the women escaped this
situation,” she told Human Rights Watch.[125]
The detainees were sitting on the ground, and were only allowed to move when
they were taken to the bathroom; even then, she said, their handcuffs were not
removed. “I could see that all of them had been beaten up,” she
said.

The lawyer also observed an officer in uniform yelling at
the detainees for trying to talk to one another. “Shut up! You’re
not going to talk anymore!,” he yelled. Ten minutes after she had been
brought to the cafeteria, a lieutenant noticed her standing there and asked
what she was doing. When she tried to explain she was a human rights lawyer who
had been brought there by another officer and told to wait, the lieutenant
yelled at her, saying she should not be there. He told another guardsman to
take her to another location, out of view of the detainees. There, she found
other lawyers of detainees waiting.

The lawyer said she and the other lawyers waited until
approximately 7 p.m., but were not allowed to speak with detainees. From the
time she arrived, she noticed prosecutors were also present on the military
base, and were speaking with guardsmen. She approached a group of prosecutors
to ask when the detainees would be brought before a judge. According to the
lawyer: “Their answer was that they didn’t know, that they had
fulfilled their duties on time, and that the rest was not their responsibility.
They also indicated that my presence there was not necessary and didn’t
make sense because the [detainees] rights had been respected at all times and
that ‘clearly they weren’t beaten.’”[126]

The lawyer said that when the hearings before judges were
about to begin, she overheard a nearby conversation between guardsmen
(including the lieutenant who had yelled at her earlier) and prosecutors. She
said that the guardsmen said there was “a problem with some X-rays,”
which “would cause the case [against a detainee] to collapse, so they
should make [the case] disappear.” Shortly thereafter, she was told that
she had to leave the base by orders of a judge, and was escorted out by
guardsmen.

The lawyer told Human Rights Watch that she waited outside
of the base that night. She spoke with several of the detainees who were
released after having been charged. She said they told her they had been made
to sign a document—which stated that they had not been abused by
officials and that their due process rights had been respected—before
they were allowed to speak with their lawyers. They also told her they did not
get to meet with their lawyers until their hearings before a judge began.

Abuses in the Street

Barquisimeto,
Lara State, February 12

On February 12, Juan Carlos Briceño, a 24-year-old
student, participated in a peaceful demonstration in Barquisimeto in which
hundreds of people, including families with children, protested against
shortages of basic goods.[127]

When the march arrived at the entrance of a National Guard
complex (Brigada 14) at around 4:30 p.m., approximately 50 guardsmen
started insulting protesters, calling them “esquálidos”—a
derogatory term meaning “squalid ones” that government officials
and supporters routinely use to refer to political opponents—and firing
rubber bullets into the air, according to Briceño. When a group of
protesters reacted by throwing rocks at the guardsmen, he turned to flee.

As he was running away from the National Guard complex, he
was shot in his lower back with a bullet, and fell to the ground. He lay there
until other protesters carried him inside a nearby building, where they waited
for half an hour until the violence on the street subsided so they could drive
him to a hospital.[128]
Briceño told Human Rights Watch he saw at least two other patients whom
he said were shot by live ammunition during the same protest arrive at the
hospital that day.[129]

According to a medical report reviewed by Human Rights Watch,
doctors had to operate on Briceño to remove a bullet from his body and
reconstruct part of his spine. The spinal injury left Briceño paraplegic
and in severe pain, according to the report.[130] When
Human Rights Watch interviewed Briceño on March 22, he had recovered
partial use of his legs and was just beginning to walk with the help of a
walker.

Barquisimeto,
Lara State, February 12

On February 12, Adrián Montilla Pérez,
20, was attending a demonstration in Barquisimeto when, around 4:30 p.m.,
national guardsmen opened fire with teargas and rubber bullets.[131]
Montilla said he turned and ran in the other direction when he spotted a woman
who had been shot in the leg and fallen to the ground. According to a complaint
he placed before the Ombudsman’s Office, Montilla said, “I stopped
to help her and after I’d taken three steps I felt an impact in my right
knee.”[132]

Montilla said the bullet entered from behind, from the
direction from which national guardsmen were firing on protesters, meaning he
was shot as he was fleeing. He said he called for help because he could no
longer carry the wounded woman due to the pain in his leg, and another person
came to relieve him. As he continued to limp away from the national guardsmen,
he told Human Rights Watch that he saw a National Guard tank drive towards
fleeing protesters, firing teargas, while National Guard motorcycles rode
through the crowd, beating protesters. Montilla also witnessed several national
guardsmen subdue a protester on the ground. The guards pulled aside the
man’s arms, which he was using to cover his head, and kicked him
repeatedly in the head, Montilla said.

Montilla’s friend helped him reach a shopping mall,
where she took him into a store and tied a tourniquet around his leg to stop
the bleeding, then hid him in the bathroom. He said that, after the national
guardsmen had left the immediate area, she took him to the Hospital Central
Antonio María Pineda. There, he was operated on immediately.

Doctors told his family that the bullet wound came from live
ammunition, rather than rubber pellets.[133] Two X-rays
provided to Human Rights Watch also show a bullet in Montilla’s thigh, and
the accompanying X-ray report confirms the presence of a bullet.[134]
Montilla said doctors told him they would need to wait approximately one month
before trying to remove the bullet from his leg.

Caracas,
February 15

The night of February 15, Gabriel Osorio, a
43-year-old journalist, was taking pictures of a demonstration in Caracas when
clashes broke out between members of the National Guard and demonstrators.[135]
Osorio sought refuge at the entrance of an apartment building to wait for the
teargas to dissipate.

When Osorio was able to see more clearly, he noticed a
guardsman standing 10 meters away from him. Osorio told Human Rights Watch he
put his hands up in the air, showed him his press credentials, and shouted, “Press!”
Without any warning, the guardsmen started shooting in his direction, so Osorio
ran away. Approximately four guardsmen ran after him, shooting in his direction,
until he was hit and fell in the middle of the road.

The guardsmen grabbed Osorio by the arms, picked him up, and
one of them hit him with the back of a firearm in his head. Osorio fell to the
ground again, and felt another blow on his head, while six guardsmen, all of
them with their faces covered, surrounded him and started kicking his head,
body, and testicles. He told them again that he was a journalist and one of the
guardsmen simply responded: "The camera!" and attempted to take it away
from him. One of the guardsmen then pulled his backpack to try to take it away
and could not do so—because Osorio had tied two of the strings across his
stomach—so he started pulling Osorio backwards on the street, while the
rest continued to kick him.

The guardsmen left, leaving Osorio lying in the middle of
the street. Osorio told Human Rights Watch he stood up, passed out, and woke up
some time later when neighbors were assisting him.

Medical reports, X-rays, and pictures reviewed by Human
Rights Watch are consistent with Osorio’s account, and show that Osorio
suffered two broken ribs and several bruises on his leg, back, and head
(including two that required stitches). One of the reports also states the
doctor observed wounds to his body consistent with injuries left by rubber
bullet.[136]

Barquisimeto,
Lara State, February 18

Six people—Moisés Evencio Río,
43; Wilson Octavio Vásquez, 18; Jesús Alejandro
Escalante, 18; Escalante’s 16-year-old cousin; and two others, one of
whom was 16—were arbitrarily detained in Barquisimeto, in Lara state, at
approximately 8:30 p.m. on February 18.[137]

According to a copy of a police report on their detention
obtained by Human Rights Watch, national police responded to reports that the
local station of CANTV, the official government telephone and internet service
provider, was being vandalized. According to the report, when the police
arrived:

…[W]e observed the presence
of approximately 15 people of the male sex exiting the interior of the offices
of CANTV through the door that forms part of a gate…[[U]pon noticing the
police presence, [the men] fled at a quick run; we immediately gave the order
to stop, identifying ourselves as active functionaries of the Bolivarian
National Police…[I]gnoring the order to stop an encircling action was
taken a few meters from the action, with the aim of capturing the
subjects…[138]

Contrary to the claims in the police report, the detainees
were not in fact detained while fleeing the CANTV station, nor were they
detained a “few meters” from the station. According to the
detainees’ testimony before authorities, they were picked up blocks away
from the station;[139] and the
victims’ relatives told Human Rights Watch that the victims were with
them when the attack on CANTV occurred.[140] Video
footage of their detention filmed by neighbors and reviewed by Human Rights
Watch corroborates this.[141]

Río had stepped out to move his car, his brother told
Human Rights Watch. Escalante and his 16-year-old cousin had left
Escalante’s parents’ house minutes earlier, and were walking to get
something to eat. They were outside the cousin’s home, who lived on the
block where they were detained.[142]

At 8:35 p.m., several national police on motorcycles closed
off the two ends of the street. A group of police set upon Escalante and his
cousin, who was a child, and, without provocation, began to beat them. The cousin’s
mother was a witness and immediately called Escalante’s mother to tell
her what had happened.[143]
Escalante tried to shield his younger cousin, and was beaten more aggressively
as a result. Escalante later told his mother that after he had been separated
from his cousin, an officer gave him an electric shock on his arm, even though
he was offering no resistance. The cousin’s mother, who came outside and
tried to intervene to stop police from detaining her son, was also beaten by
police officers.

Río, who suffers from serious heart problems and
spinal issues, was thrown against the side of a building, breaking the glass of
a window from the force. He was then handcuffed and pushed into the back of a
pick-up truck.[144]
Because his hands were bound at the time he was loaded in, he could not break
his fall, and fell face-first into the truck, badly bruising his face.
Escalante, his cousin, and the three other detainees were loaded into the same
pickup, and beaten over the duration of their ride to a police facility.

The six were held incommunicado at a police facility until
February 21—more than 48 hours after their detention—at which time
they were charged with eight crimes: resisting authority (resistencia a la
autoridad), damages to public patrimony (daños al patrimonio
público), obstruction of public roadways (obstaculización
de vías), instigation to commit a crime (instigación a
delinquir), use of an adolescent to commit a crime (uso de adolescente
para delinquir), burning of buildings (incendio de edificaciones),
aggravated public intimidation (intimidación pública agravada),
and instigation to hate (instigación al odio).[145]
While three of the detainees were granted conditional liberty after being
charged, Río, Vásquez, and Escalante were held in jail until
April 8, 2014, at which time they were granted conditional liberty awaiting
their trial.[146]

Valencia,
Carabobo State, February 20

On February 20, 2014, Óscar Tellechea, a 27-year-old
communications student who works for a news agency, was taking pictures and
covering a peaceful demonstration in Valencia that turned violent after
security forces used force to disperse it, Tellechea told Human Rights Watch.
Tellechea, who said that at the time he was wearing a hat with the name of the
agency he works for and had his press credentials visible, told Human Rights
Watch that a member of the National Guard stopped him, pointed a shotgun at his
head, and ordered him to delete all pictures he had in his camera. After doing
so, the guardsman allowed him to go. Tellechea was leaving when another
guardsman stopped him and confiscated his camera. He also kicked Tellechea as
he was walking away, he said.[147]

Valencia, Carabobo State, February 24

On February 24, 2014, Marvinia Jiménez, a
36-year old seamstress, was attacked by a member of the Guard of the People
after she filmed officials using her cell phone as they shot teargas canisters
at protesters.[148]

A guardsman spotted Jiménez and tried to take away
her phone, but she threw it far away so he could not take it, according to
various accounts Jiménez gave of her attack. Immediately afterwards, a
guardswoman threw her to the pavement and sat on her, beating her, hitting her
repeatedly in the head with a helmet, spitting on her and biting her. The
beating was filmed and photographed by several eyewitnesses, whose footage
corroborates her account. Jiménez’s face and head were seriously
bruised in several places, and she had to wear an orthopedic neck brace while
recovering from the injuries.[149]

After the beating, Jiménez was handcuffed, but
guardsmen did not tell her why she was being arrested. At 2 p.m., she was
driven to a military complex of the Guard of the People, where she was detained
along with three other individuals who had been beaten by national guardsmen,
including a man who was vomiting blood from his injuries, Jiménez said.
Around 6 p.m., she was taken to receive basic medical care, and subsequently
driven to a police station where she spent the night sleeping on the floor.

The following morning, a man who identified himself as a
representative of the Ombudsperson’s Office[150]
asked her to sign a document stating she was in good health, according to
Jiménez. She refused, stating she had a severe headache, and the man
responded, “That is not my problem because I am here to certify that you
do not have anything.”[151]

Caracas,
March 3

At 12:30 p.m. on March 3, Pedro González, a
24-year-old university student, went to his friend’s apartment near Plaza
Altamira—a public square that had been the site of regular protests in
Caracas.[152] He and
his friend spent the afternoon in the apartment. Around 5:30 p.m., teargas
began to waft into the apartment, so González went down to the
building’s enclosed, open-air courtyard to get some air. About a dozen
other residents had also come down to the courtyard, including several who
congregated in the building’s entrance. From there, they looked out on
the street, where, around 5:55 p.m., they observed police firing teargas and
rubber bullets at protesters, and protesters throwing the canisters and stones
back at police.

González says he was standing in the courtyard when
five or six national police officers charged through the entrance of the
building. As he turned to run away, several officers grabbed him and, though he
offered no resistance, threw him to the ground and dragged him out of the
building.

The forcible entry of the police into the apartment
building, as well as the arbitrary arrest of Gonzálezwith no
apparent justification, was captured on at least four videos, shot from
different vantage points, which corroborate his version of what happened. They
include: surveillance camera footage from cameras within the building (one
overlooking the courtyard, and the other overlooking the building’s
entrance); a recording by a professional cameraman, who had been standing in
the building’s doorway when police barged in, grabbing González;
and amateur footage shot from an apartment on one of the higher floors of the
same building.[153]
González provided Human Rights Watch with all four videos.

One of the surveillance videos shows Gonzálezpacing
around the enclosed courtyard minutes before his arrest, and then walking
towards the building’s entrance. Suddenly, various residents begin to
flee away from the building’s entrance, and into the courtyard, including
González. Uniformed police officers follow closely behind them, and two
of them grab González, throw him to the ground, and drag him out of the
building.

The video shot by the professional cameraman standing in the
entrance of the apartment building shows police firing teargas towards
protesters in the street, while protesters respond by throwing stones at
police. Then, at least one protester flees past the cameraman and into the
building. Next, the video captures police charging through the entrance of the
building, grabbing González, and forcibly dragging him out.

González was taken to a police car nearby, where
officers threatened to kill him, saying, “So you are going to throw
stones? You’re going to be sorry.” Police took his cell phone,
wallet, keys, and backpack and held him incommunicado in the Helicoide jail
until the following day, during which time he was handcuffed together with two
other individuals.

At his hearing, which was held at approximately 5 p.m. on
March 5, prosecutors accused him of throwing stones at police, and charged him
with instigation to public disorder (instagación al desorden
público) and resisting authority (resistencia a la autoridad).
The only evidence presented against him, he said, were razor wires allegedly
found in the area. The judge told him that his conditional freedom would be
revoked if he participated in any future protests.

Barquisimeto,
Lara State, March 7

On March 7, Willie David Arma Menéndez, 29,
was standing on the corner outside his home in Barquisimeto with three friends,
when he saw several national guardsmen driving towards them in official
vehicles and motorcycles.[154] Arma
and his friends turned and ran from the guardsmen. As he ran, Arma was shot in
the back of his neck, and fell to the ground. Three guardsmen detained him, and
began to drag him towards an official vehicle. He told Human Rights Watch that
although he offered no resistance, other guardsmen shot him several more times.

Medical reports reviewed by Human Rights Watch show that he was
hit by 14 rubber-bullet pellets in different parts of his body, including in
his neck, leg, stomach, and right thigh.[155] Six of
the pellets were imbedded in his body and had to be removed by doctors,
suggesting they had been fired from close range.

Arma was held in a National Guard vehicle for almost an
hour, during which time three guardsmen beat him with helmets and the butts of
their rifles, kicked him, and stuffed a cloth into his mouth. As they assaulted
him, the guardsmen asked him: “Who is your president?" No matter
what Arma responded, he said, the guardsmen continued to beat him.

The guardsmen then took him to a military installation (Destacamento
47), where he was forced to sit with this head between his legs for
approximately four hours, until he was released without charge. Despite the
fact that he had several rubber bullet wounds, he was not given medical
attention during his detention.

Caracas,
March 14

On March 14, 2014, Rafael José Montilla Isturiz, a
35-year-old photographer who works for a news agency that provides information
to a Russian paper, was detained by members of the National Guard while he was
filming a demonstration in Plaza Altamira, Caracas.[156]

According to Montilla, who is a Rastafarian and had
dreadlocks that reached his waist, a guardsman pulled his hair, threw him to
the ground, and took away his bag. Despite the fact that he said he was a
journalist, the guardsman took away his camera and detained him. He was driven
in an official vehicle to a military installation. When he arrived, Montilla
was taken, handcuffed, to a kitchen, where a guardsman told him they would cut
his hair "so he becomes a man" (para que seas un hombre). The
guardsman cut off his hair, while the others laughed, even though he explained
to them the dreadlocks were closely associated with his religious beliefs as a
member of the Rastafari movement.[157]

He was brought before a judge on March 16, together with 13
others that had been detained that day. A prosecutor charged all of them,
including Montilla, with public incitement to commit crimes (instigación
pública), obstructing public roads (obstaculización de la
vía pública), and resisting authority (resistencia a la
autoridad). Two of the fourteen were also charged with possessing flammable
substances (detención de sustancias incendiarias). Despite the
fact that different private lawyers argued that their defendants had been
arbitrarily detained or abused, the judge confirmed all charges, and ordered
the conditional release of the 14 detainees.[158]

Valencia,
Carabobo State, March 21

At approximately 12 p.m. on March 21, 2014, Daniela
Rodríguez was filming a demonstration using her cell phone near her
home in the municipality of San Diego, in Valencia, when violence broke out
between the Carabobo state police and protesters.[159]

According to an eyewitness interviewed by Human Rights
Watch, Rodríguez ran into her home and locked the gate. Approximately 30
police officers and members of the intelligence police (SEBIN) forcefully
entered her home and detained Daniela and her brother, Luis Rodríguez.
According to the Venezuelan Penal Forum, they were both granted conditional
liberty on March 23.[160]

The eyewitness's testimony was corroborated by pictures of
the Rodríguez siblings’ detention by police posted online and on
Twitter by witnesses, in which uniformed officers are visible.[161]
In addition, the eyewitness took Human Rights Watch to the Rodríguez
family’s home in Valencia on March 23 (two days after the incident), and
showed where the gate had been broken by government security agents.[162]

Caracas,
March 22

At approximately 4:30 p.m. on March 22, members of the
National Guard searched the home of Mildred Manrique, a 31-year-old
journalist who has been covering the protests since February 12, and lives
across the street from Plaza Altamira in Caracas. Approximately 20 guardsmen
broke into her apartment, destroying the door, and searched her home for two
hours without showing Manrique a warrant.[163]

Manrique told Human Rights Watch that the general in charge
of the search told her she had to accompany them because they had found “guarimba
material and that constituted terrorism.” At the entrance of her home, a
general told the press that they had found “materials that do not
correspond with peaceful activities” and mentioned they were taking as
evidence chairs similar to those that had allegedly been thrown at guardsmen
earlier that day, gloves that were used to grab teargas canisters, teargas
masks, a computer, and propaganda “against the legally constituted
government.”[164]
According to Manrique, they took four computers, teargas masks that she carried
for work and her family used inside their home when security forces used teargas
in Plaza Altamira, a handful of T-shirts with political propaganda from
official and opposition parties (which she said she got at different rallies
she covered as a journalist), and winter gloves.

Manrique was detained for two-and-a-half hours at a military
installation (Comando Regional 5) but, after news about her arrest
started circulating in the social media, she was told that she was there
"as a witness"—although they never explained what she had
"witnessed" that required her being there. She was taken to an
office, asked to answer several questions regarding who lived in her apartment
and what had happened that day prior to the search, signed a
“declaration,” and was allowed to leave.[165]

Cases Involving Armed Pro-Government
Gangs

Caracas,
February 12

At 9:30 p.m. on February 12, approximately 20 men dressed in
black with their faces covered abducted Inti Rodríguez, the media
coordinator of the Venezuelan Program for Education and Action on Human Rights
(Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos,
PROVEA), a Venezuelan human rights organization, as he was leaving his office
in downtown Caracas.[166]

Rodríguez told Human Rights Watch that the men
carried him on a motorcycle without license plates to the neighborhood
“23 de enero,” an area in Western Caracas allegedly controlled by armed
pro-government gangs. Rodríguez said that the men held him for two
hours, beat him, kicked him, and threatened to kill him and his family. The men
reviewed his cell phone contacts, asked him for information on people working
at PROVEA, and interrogated him about the organization's human rights work.
Before letting him go, the men confiscated his ID, and said: “We know who
you are and where your family lives. If you report [this] and start talking, we’ll
break you.”[167]

According to Rodríguez, the men never identified
themselves but the group’s leader used police language, and he overheard
conversations that suggested the men were in contact with security forces.[168]

Valencia,
Carabobo State, February 18

On February 18—less than 48 hours after the Governor
of Carabobo over Twitter urged pro-government groups to launch a “rapid
counterattack”—Ángel Enrique Parra, 37, participated
in a peaceful demonstration in which approximately 20,000 people marched to the
courthouse (Palacio de Justicia) in Valencia.[169]
When the demonstration ended, a group of around 150 people circled back
following the same roads that they had taken on the march to the courthouse.

As Parra and the others walked back, a group of civilians
wearing red T-shirts—the color typically associated with support for the
government party—called them “fascists,” “escuálidos,”
and chanted, “Chávez is alive, the fight continues.” Parra
told Human Rights Watch that all protesters put their hands up in the air to
show they were unarmed and continued walking. Before long, they spotted another
group of around a dozen civilians wearing red shirts, sitting on their
motorcycles. All were armed with shotguns, and their faces were covered with
red cloths.

Parra said that when he and the other marchers reached a
corner, they turned and started to run away from the armed men. As he ran, he
said, he heard several shots and was struck in the back by a bullet. Human
Rights Watch reviewed a medical report—along with an X-ray and
photographs of the injuries sustained from the shot—indicating a bullet had
entered through his back and lodged in his chest.[170]

Parra told Human Rights Watch that other protesters took him
to a hospital, where he saw at least six other people arrive with gunshot
wounds inflicted by live ammunition during the same incident.[171]

One of the injured protesters who arrived at the hospital
was Génesis Carmona, a 22-year-old student, who had been shot in
the head. According to a student who was near Carmona during the protest, a
group of armed civilians who had arrived on motorcycles, some of them wearing
red shirts, opened fire and hit Carmona. The student carried Carmona on a
motorcycle to a hospital.[172]
According to the doctor who treated her, Carmona arrived to the emergency room
with a bullet lodged in her head, which had fractured her cranium and caused
severe brain injuries. Carmona died of the head wound the following day.[173]

Despite pictures published in social networks showing armed
civilians allegedly pointing shotguns towards demonstrators,[174]
Justice Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres said on February 19 that
Carmona had “died from a bullet that came from [the protesters’]
own ranks.”[175]

Barquisimeto,
Lara State, February 20

On the night of February 20, Jesús María
Toval, a 38-year-old chef, was standing with a group of neighbors inside
the housing complex (urbanización) where he lives in
Barquisimeto, protesting by banging pots (cacerolazos). A group of
approximately six armed men, wearing black vests, parked a white van in front
of a National Guard station (Comando Regional 4) located across the
street from Toval’s housing complex, according to Toval’s wife,
Angélica Rodríguez, who was inside their home at the time. A
pro-government neighbor opened the complex’s gate for the men.[176]

The armed men walked into the complex, grabbed Toval by his
arms, surrounded him, and led him to the National Guard station,
Rodríguez said. As they forced him out of the complex, called him a
“fascist” and shouted, “You're dead!”

Rodríguez—who left her home after the men
dragged her husband away—shared a video on her cell phone with Human
Rights Watch that shows several men forcefully taking a person across the road
while neighbors yell at them to let him go. In the video, a white van is
visible, parked in front of the National Guard station. Rodríguez told
Human Rights Watch the man in the video was her husband.[177]

After the men turned Toval over to the National Guard, the
guardsmen transported him to another military installation (Destacamento 47),
where he was held incommunicado for three days. During his detention, he was
beaten by national guardsmen, who threatened to transfer him to a prison where
he would spend the rest of his life.[178]

The morning after his detention, on February 21,
Rodríguez visited the installation and asked if Toval was there, but she
was told by the guardsman who attended her that there was no list available
with names of detainees. Two hours later, only after she broke down crying,
another guardsman approached her and told her privately that Toval was detained
at that location. Yet Rodríguez and Toval’s lawyer were not
permitted to see him until February 23—when he was finally brought before
a judge.

During his detention, Toval was forced to stand before a
white wall with dozens of glass bottles and wires placed on the ground by his
side while they photographed him.[179] The
photograph was then distributed via Twitter—presumably by someone within
the National Guard or a government supporter—using the hashtag #Chavez's
Troops (#TROPA De Chávez). The tweet said: “This peaceful student
of Barquisimeto, detained today by the National Guard, when he was going to
classes, with 72 Molotov cocktails, 150 miguelitos.”[180]

At the February 23 hearing, a prosecutor charged Toval with
public incitement to commit crimes (instigación pública),
public intimidation (intimidación pública), and
association to commit crimes (asociación para delinquir), based
on evidence that had been planted on him, including Molotov cocktails and miguelitos,
according to his wife. The judge confirmed the charges, but granted him
conditional liberty. One of the conditions was that he did not participate in
any demonstrations or talk about his case.[181]

San
Antonio de los Altos, Miranda State, February 24

Sandro Rivas, 30, attended an opposition rally on the
morning February 24 in San Antonio de los Altos. He told Human Rights Watch
that government supporters held a counter-demonstration nearby. Rivas got into
an argument with a government supporter that escalated into a fistfight in
which he was wounded. A fellow protester with a motorcycle offered him a ride
home.[182]

As they were leaving the protest area, Rivas and the driver
were intercepted by a pick-up truck carrying two men in front and two in the
back, all armed with handguns. The men forced Rivas and the driver into the
back of the pick-up at gunpoint and pulled their shirts over their heads. As
they drove, they punched both men repeatedly and threatened to kill them.
Minutes later, they arrived at a checkpoint of the National Guard, where the
armed men handed Rivas and the driver over to the guardsmen. They claimed Rivas
and the other detainee had been manning the barricade (“guarimbeando”)
and had closed off a roadway. The guardsmen at no point asked him or the other
detainee where they had been detained, nor did they question the identities of
the armed men who handed them over, whom they appeared to recognize, Rivas said.

Rivas and the other man were handcuffed by the guardsmen and
placed in an official vehicle. At one point, the vehicle stopped and another
guardsman reached in saying, “Put this on him,” dropping miguelitos
into the car. They were driven to a National Guard station (Comando Regional
5), where Rivas was taken to a small room. Guardsmen slammed his head
against a wall, punched him in the eye, and hit him repeatedly in the back with
the butt of a rifle.

Rivas was then taken to an area with 17 additional
detainees—two of them women, and one boy—and held there for
approximately four or five hours. The detainees were subsequently taken to
headquarters of the intelligence police (SEBIN) for questioning. There, Rivas was
given a medical exam, and interviewed by a prosecutor. Subsequently, the
detainees were taken to a military facility (Liceo Militar Pedro
María Ochoa Morales, PMOM), where they were held overnight. The 16
male detainees were bound together with handcuffs in a single human chain,
which were not even taken off when they slept that night on mattresses on the
floor, Rivas said.

Rivas and the other detainees were held incommunicado until
their hearing before a judge the next day. He was only allowed to speak to a
lawyer for 15 minutes before his hearing, during which all 18 detainees were
charged with the same crimes based on the same evidence, which he said
consisted of some cables and miguelitos that security forces had planted
on them after they were detained. The accused were charged with seven crimes,
including resisting authority, protesting in a violent manner, closing off
public roadways, and terrorism, according to Rivas.

Caracas,
March 12

At approximately 1 p.m. on March 12, José Alfredo
Martín Ostermann, 41, his friend Carlos Spinetti, 39, and two
other friends were walking near Plaza Venezuela in Caracas, nearby where a
pro-government rally was to take place later that day.[183]

Two armed men in civilian clothes stopped Spinetti, who was
trailing behind his other three friends. When Ostermann noticed his friend had
fallen behind, he turned around to see what was happening. As Ostermann
approached, he heard the men saying they had seen Spinetti taking photos of
them and other pro-government demonstrators with his phone, and that they
wanted to review the pictures. Spinetti said he had not taken any
photos—that he had been texting with his girlfriend—according to
Ostermann.

Then, without provocation, one of the men punched Ostermann in
the head. Another man hit Spinetti, and within moments a group of approximately
10 men had encircled them. The men kicked Ostermann and Spinetti repeatedly,
and hit them in the head with motorcycle helmets, Ostermann said. All of the
men were armed with handguns. The man who appeared to be giving orders wore a
black motorcycle helmet and a light blue shirt atop a bulletproof vest; another
wore a jacket that said “Venezuelan Militia” (Milicia Venezolana).
Three national guardsmen, who were also in the circle, watched as the two were
beaten and then walked away. At this point, Ostermann told Human Rights Watch,
he believed the men assaulting them were police officers, because they were
armed and in the company of the national guardsmen.

By then, a group of around 30 to 40 pro-government
supporters had congregated around Ostermann and Spinetti, and were shouting
insults at them, many of which were political in tone. They called them
traitors to the fatherland (traidores de la patria) and “manitos
blancas” (literally “the white hands,” implying they were
upper class snobs), and said the “opposition” used violence,
whereas government supporters were peaceful. At one point, one of the armed men
asked another, “What do we do with these two white hands? We finish them
off there or we take them elsewhere?”

One of the armed men asked Ostermann and Spinetti for their
IDs, and then for their addresses. The man, in turn, relayed this information
over a walkie-talkie he carried with him. He said that his group had detained
the men, and reported their current location. The fact that the armed man was
communicating with others via walkie-talkie indicated that the armed men
belonged to a broader network and that their actions were coordinated. The
armed men placed Ostermann and Spinetti against a wall and took several
photographs of them. They did not say for what purpose they planned to use the
photos. In several of the photographs, they forced Spinetti to pose holding a
handgun, which they had planted on him, and then took back, Ostermann said.

Next, the armed men took Ostermann and Spinetti to a local
outpost of the municipal police (Policía del municipio Libertador),
and handed them over to the police. According to Ostermann, the armed men had a
brief discussion with approximately eight or nine police officers gathered
there, which he did not hear, and then left. Yet Ostermann said that the way
they addressed one another suggested that they were not meeting for the first
time.

Police then transported Ostermann and Spinetti to the main
police headquarters, where an officer asked them for their identification. The
reported exchange that follows was recounted by Ostermann to Human Rights
Watch: When Ostermann said they had handed over their IDs to the plain-clothes
police that detained them, the police officer responded that the men who had
detained them were not the police. “All police have the obligation to
wear uniforms with their names displayed on them,” the policeman said,
telling him the armed men belonged to a “colectivo”. When
Ostermann asked how it was possible that armed men were allowed to detain
people at random and hand them over to police, the police officer responded,
“Unfortunately, the colectivos are the ones who rule out there.”
Ostermann asked the officer how it was possible that these men were allowed to
operate. Speaking quietly so as not to be overheard, the policeman told
Ostermann and Spinetti that, “according to orders from higher up, we
can’t pursue these groups.” The officer added that if they detained
these “colectivos,” they would lose their jobs.

Ostermann and Spinetti were seated in handcuffs on a bench
next to the entrance to the police headquarters. After approximately 30
minutes, Ostermann said, he saw five motorcycles enter the courtyard in front
of the headquarters. He recognized two of the riders as ones who had attacked
them, including the leader who was wearing the light blue shirt, bulletproof
vest, and black helmet, and the man wearing the jacket that said
“Venezuelan Militia.”

On the back of one of the motorcycles was a young man whose
wrists were bound with his shoelaces. The armed gang members had a brief discussion
with several police officers, handed over the bound young man, and then left.
The young man was eventually brought to sit next to Ostermann and Spinetti, and
told them a story of having been picked up without any justification and beaten
just as they had been.

After roughly two hours, the three detainees were
transported to police headquarters, where the police checked if they had
criminal records. They were then taken to the investigative police (CICPC) and
immigration services for similar checks. Ostermann said that the two detectives
who were transporting them even apologized for their having been detained, and
said that municipal authorities had given the “colectivo”
that had detained the three a “green light to detain.” The
detectives said their “hands were tied,” and could do nothing to
rein the “colectivos,” on orders of their superiors,
according to Ostermann.

Ostermann and Spinetti were eventually returned to the
police headquarters, where they were asked to provide testimony of what happened,
and then photographed with a sign that said their name and, beneath it, “guarimbero”
(slang for the person who mans a guarimba, the term the government uses
for opposition barricades). Ostermann said the mugshot was taken despite the
fact that he had not been detained at a barricade. Although his account made
clear he had been beaten and abducted by an armed pro-government gang, in full
sight of two members of the National Guard—and that the gang’s
members had been in direct contact with multiple members of the municipal
police in two locations—the police did not note down a formal complaint
from Ostermann, or report the alleged human rights abuses he had sustained to
the prosecutor’s office.

Valencia,
Carabobo State, March 12

On March 12, Lisandro Barazarte, 40, a
photojournalist at the newspaper Notitarde in Valencia, was sent by
editors to cover a protest in the housing complex (urbanización)
La Isabelica. When he arrived around 1 p.m., there was a standoff between
approximately 50 to 100 demonstrators, on one side, and approximately the same
number of pro-government civilians, on the other, he said.[184]
There were no national guardsmen or police officials on hand. Barazarte said
people on the pro-government side, many of whom had covered their faces with
bandanas, fired handguns multiple times in the direction of demonstrators. He
also saw some demonstrators throw stones at pro-government civilians.

Barazarte noticed that several of the armed pro-government
supporters were wearing t-shirts bearing the logos of government agencies,
including Industrias Diana[185] and
Petrocasa,[186] the
logos of which were visible in the photographs he took.

Barazarte said that the confrontation took place
approximately 60 to 80 meters from a regional station of the National Guard (Comando
Regional Número 2 de la Guardia Nacional). Shooting, he said, had
started before he arrived, and pro-government armed men continued to shoot at
protesters over the 25-minute period during which he took photographs.
Barazarte said the shots would without question have been audible to the
national guardsmen stationed nearby, but they did not respond, suggesting they
chose not to intervene. At least eight people were wounded, and two killed, in
and around the demonstration at La Isabelica.

Photographs taken by Barazarte appeared in the March 13
print edition of Notitarde, accompanied by a news article about the
demonstration and the protesters wounded and killed.[187]
The photos depict armed government supporters on foot and on motorcycle firing
on protesters; a series of photos show a man wearing the shirt of a government
agency (Petrocasa) covering his face with another t-shirt; and other
pictures showed at least four armed men in plainclothes firing on
demonstrators. At 10 a.m., the newspaper received the first of multiple death
threats over the phone against the man the caller referred to as “the
photographer who took the pictures” in that day’s paper, according
to the editor-in-chief of Notitarde, Francisco Briceño.
“Now we have identified him,” the caller told a person at Notitarde,
“We are going to kill him.”[188]
Barazarte’s neighbors also told him they had heard he was going to be
killed.[189]

That afternoon, investigative police (CICPC) called the
newspaper, said they wanted to speak with Barazarte, and requested copies of
the photographs that had appeared in the newspaper, according to
Briceño.[190]
Briceño told the police that if they wanted to interview Barazarte and
obtain copies of the photographs, they would need to send formal written
requests to Notitarde. They sent two requests that afternoon.[191]
The first document requested that Barazarte appear before homicide detectives
from the prosecutor’s office that same day as “an eyewitness,”
regarding an open criminal investigation.[192] The
second document requested that “print copies” of the photographs he
had taken be provided with “extreme urgency.”[193]
The second request said the photographs were critical to an investigation into
“crimes against property”, but did not mention an investigation
into the people killed or wounded the previous day.

Barazarte went to the CICPC at approximately 6 p.m.,
accompanied by a lawyer. He said that he presumed he was going to be questioned
about the shootings, but instead investigators focused their questioning on how
many photographs he had taken, whether other photographers had covered the
incident, and where he kept the original versions of his photographs. They did
not ask any questions about who had been shooting, Barazarte said. Nor, when
Barazarte said he had received death threats, did they offer protective
measures or say they were going to investigate.

The lawyer who accompanied Barazarte said the questioning
gave the impression that investigators were more concerned with interrogating
the photographer than determining who had shot protesters.[194]
The lawyer also told Human Rights Watch that, while Barazarte was speaking with
investigators, a prosecutor pulled him aside and said that he recognized one of
the armed civilians in the photographs as the leader of a government
worker’s union in Valencia.[195]

On March 14, prosecutor Edgar Gallego (fiscal auxiliar 27)
arrived at the offices of Notitarde to pick up the photos, according to
the editor-in-chief, Briceño.[196]
Briceño said that, when they handed him a folder with printed versions
of the photographs, the prosecutor said he needed the digital versions of the
images on a CD. Briceño said the prosecutor did not explain why he need
digital rather than print versions of the photographs; nonetheless,
Briceño feared digital versions of the images could be manipulated.
Briceño said that the CICPC’s request had not asked for digital
versions of the photos, but only print copies, and that if investigators wanted
digital copies, they would need to submit another request. The prosecutor grew
angry, and accused the newspaper of obstructing his investigation, then stormed
out of the office, according to Briceño.

Caracas,
March 19

On March 19, 2014, approximately 150 students were holding a
student meeting in the lobby of the School of Architecture of the Central
University of Venezuela, when they noticed that eight men in the eighth
floor of the building were taking down a banner that students had placed on a
wall. The banner, which originally read “Security. Liberty. Justice.
Respect” was changed to “Chávez is Liberty. Justice.
Respect.”[197]

The students asked other students and professors in the
building to leave, and sent two pro-government student representatives to talk
to the eight men who were taking down the banner. By the time the students had
reached an agreement with the eight to leave without incident, there were
approximately 50 students left in the lobby. The students were still
waiting for the men to leave when another man entered the lobby. Wearing
civilian clothes, but with his head covered with a dark cloth and a firearm in
his hand, the man shouted: “The colectivos have arrived, assholes,
here we are!”

The man threw two teargas canisters inside the building,
three of the students present told Human Rights Watch, and approximately 20
more people in civilian clothes with their faces covered entered the lobby. The
students started running away from them, but the new arrivals, one of whom was
a woman, cornered them at the end of a hallway. For approximately 20 minutes, the
intruders beat the students with their fists, tubes, and broomsticks; kicked
them; and forced several of them to undress; while shouting: “guarimbero,
overthrow the government now! We are the government!”

According to three students present, all of the students
were beaten and at least 30 were injured, including three with cuts on their
heads, one with a broken nose, and another with a broken arm. Human Rights
Watch reviewed photographs of several students who were injured, which
corroborate these statements.[198]

Before leaving, the intruders wrote on the wall of one
university building, “This shit is from the left!” and,
“Chávez is alive!”[199] One of
the students told Human Rights Watch that she saw at least four intruders walk
away without being stopped by university private security guards or
firefighters, who were posted at the entrance of the building.

Abuses in Detention Facilities

Valencia,
Carabobo State, February 13

At approximately 10 p.m. on February 13, Juan Manuel
Carrasco, 21 ran away from a demonstration in El Trigal, a neighborhood in
Valencia, with two friends when national guardsmen started to shoot rubber
bullets and teargas canisters at demonstrators.[200]

The three men reached the car of one of them, which was
parked nearby, and as they got into it, they saw guardsmen drive up on
approximately 15 motorcycles. The guardsmen fired rubber bullets at the car’s
windows, forced the three to get out, and beat them with their fists and the butts
of their rifles. The guardsmen took their personal belongings, including their
wallets and cell phones, and then set the car on fire.

The guardsmen took the detainees to a nearby park, where
they were forced to lie down on the ground with nine others, including a minor.[201]
The guardsmen continued to kick and beat the 12 detainees, and stomp on their
heads with their boots. They were then taken to another outdoor space nearby,
where the guardsmen forced the men to lie on their sides in fetal position and
threatened them to kill them.

Carrasco told Human Rights Watch that, while he was lying
down in fetal position, he felt that one of the guardsmen placed what he
thought was a rifle on his neck, moved it slowly down his back, pulling down
his underwear and penetrating his rectum once. Human Rights Watch reviewed a
copy of a medical report of February 20 that states that Carrasco had suffered
a rectal hemorrhage.[202]

Three of the other detainees were told to lie down facing
upwards, and a guardsman ran over their legs three times with a motorcycle,
Carrasco said.

All the detainees were taken in an official vehicle, where
they continued to be beaten, to a military installation of the National Guard (Comando
Regional 2). When they arrived, several guardsmen threw pepper spray into
their eyes, and continued to beat them with the butts of their rifles, helmets,
and fists. They also doused gasoline on the detainees’ clothes, forced
them to shower, and to put the dirty clothes back on. The men were denied the
right to contact their families or a lawyer.

The following morning, a prosecutor arrived at the military
facility to interview them. Despite the fact that the detainees told her they
had suffered abuses and asked her for help, she did not do anything, according
to one of the detainees. The guardsmen then gave them clean clothes that their
families had brought them, and told them to turn over the dirty ones to
authorities.

At 5 p.m. on February 15, 11 detainees were brought before a
judge in a hearing that was held inside the military installation where they
were detained (the minor was taken before a specialized court). They did not
have access to their lawyers during their detention, and only spoke to them
five minutes before the hearing. At the hearing the prosecutor presented as key
evidence against them a police record of their detention that said they had
burnt a truck during the demonstration, according to their lawyers.

At 4 a.m. on February 16, the judge rejected all requests by
the defense team to reject the evidence presented by the prosecutor and confirmed
the charges against all detainees, according to Carrasco and lawyers present at
the hearing. They were charged with violent damage to property (daños
violentos a la propiedad), interfering with public roads (obstaculización
de la vía pública), using adolescents to commit crimes (uso
de adolescente para delinquir), public intimidation (intimidación
pública), and association to commit crimes (asociación
para delinquir). The judge ordered home arrest for six of them, and
conditional liberty for the rest. Days later, all of them were released on
conditional liberty, according to Carrasco.

Despite his evident injuries, Carrasco told Human Rights
Watch he only had access to medical care eight days later, when a judge
authorized him to go to a clinic.

Valencia,
Carabobo State, February 21

At 3 p.m. on February 21, Luis Augusto Matheus Chirinos,
a 21-year old student, was detained by approximately 10 members of the National
Guard at the entrance of a housing complex (urbanización) in
Valencia, where he was standing, waiting for a friend he had gone to pick up.
He was detained while an anti-government protest was taking place a few blocks
away. His lawyer told Human Rights Watch that he was taken to a military
complex of the Guard of the People, where several guardsmen beat him on the
head with their fists, and threatened to send him to one of Venezuela's most
violent prisons. The guardsmen ordered him to say that Nicolás Maduro
was the president of Venezuela, and to chant: “Chávez is alive,
the fight continues.”[203]

The following day, Diosdado Cabello, the president of the
National Assembly, announced at a press conference in Caracas that authorities
had seized 360 Molotov cocktails, 16 kilos of gunpowder, 450 miguelitos,
220 liters of gasoline in plastic containers, two tires, 45 candles, and 20
kilos of nails in Carabobo state, and mentioned that Matheus and another person
had been detained by the Attorney General’s Office in Valencia.[204]

Matheus was held incommunicado until February 23, when he
was brought before a judge for his first hearing. He only had access to his
lawyer 10 minutes before the hearing, and could not see his family until then.

As evidence of his criminal responsibility, prosecutors
presented a police report that said he was detained while he and approximately
25 others were throwing rocks at members of the National Guard. According to
the report, Matheus was near a white pick-up truck containing tools allegedly used
to generate violence during protests. Prosecutors also described a long list
of what they presented as incriminating evidence allegedly found in the pick-up
truck.[205]

Google Earth pictures shown to Human Rights Watch by
Matheus's lawyer show that the apartment complex where Matheus was detained was
located two blocks away from where the police report says he was detained.[206]
In addition, Human Rights Watch reviewed a video of his detention, filmed by an
eyewitness, which shows him being detained by security forces outside the
apartment building, as his lawyer had told Human Rights Watch.[207]

Nonetheless, the judge ruled that the evidence outlined in
the police report and the investigation carried out by prosecutors provided
sufficient evidence to charge Matheus with interfering with public roads (obstaculización
de la vía pública), incitement to commit crimes (instigación
pública), resistance to authority (resistencia a la autoridad),
and association to commit crimes (asociación para delinquir). He
ordered his pretrial detention.[208] On
March 22, Matheus was granted conditional liberty.[209]

San
Antonio de los Altos, Miranda State, February 25

Around 2 a.m. on February 25, 12 residents of a housing
complex (urbanización) in San Antonio de los
Altos—including 10 men, one woman, and a 16-year-old girl—set up a
barricade at the entrance to the complex, partially obstructing traffic. At
approximately 5 a.m. they were standing inside the gated community when the
father of one of the 12 drove up and offered to drive them home. All 12 had
climbed into the back of his pick-up truck when approximately 20 members of the
National Guard riding on motorcycles entered the complex. The guardsmen stopped
the vehicle and ordered all of the passengers to get out.[210]

Upon examining the 12 people, a guardsman said he detected
the odor of a flammable substance on the hands of one resident. He asked
another guardsmen, “Sergeant, what do we do with the others, who
don’t have anything?” The guardsman responded: “Put them all
on the truck, and we’ll see,” one of the detainees told Human
Rights Watch.[211]

The guardsmen put the 12 people back on the truck and told
the father to follow them, escorting them first to a traffic circle (redoma)
in San Antonio, where the guardsmen told the detainees to get out of the truck,
according to two of the detainees. They forced the men to squat, with their
hands on the back of their heads, one of them said. The guardsmen confiscated
their money and cell phones, beat the detainees, and covered their heads with
the hoods of their own sweatshirts, the detainee told Human Rights Watch.[212]
According to two statements, the guardsmen harassed them throughout the night
with insults of a political nature, calling them, for example, “damn
bourgeoisie who want to destabilize the country” and “coup-plotters.”[213]

The guardsmen then drove the detainees to an unidentified
building under construction, where they took off the shirts of some of the men
and then beat them, wrapping a towel around each one’s torso before
beating them with batons, one of them told Human Rights Watch.[214]
The guardsmen ripped the earring out of the ear of one of the detainees, and
threatened to kill all of them.[215] While
the women were not subjected to beatings, the guardsmen threatened to rape
them, and said female prisoners would sexually assault them once they were sent
to prison, according to two detainees.[216]

After the beatings, the police doused gasoline on the
detainees’ clothes and forced them to rub their hands on the tires of a
car to soil them, which one of them said he believed was to make it appear they
had all been burning objects.[217] All of
the detainees were brought before a judge on the night of February 25, and
charged with several crimes.[218] In the
hearing, which was held at a military installation, the judge confirmed the
charges against the detainees but granted them provisional liberty with the
condition that they not participate in violent demonstrations.[219]

Caracas,
February 28

On February 28 at around 7 p.m., four members of the
National Guard detained Maurizio Ottaviani Rodríguez, a 20-year
old student, while he was leaving a demonstration in Plaza Altamira in Caracas.[220]
He told Human Rights Watch that despite having offered no resistance during the
arrest, the guardsmen beat him with batons and their fists, and kicked him and
stepped on him when he was lying on the ground. The guardsmen placed Ottaviani
between two of them in a motorcycle and drove him to an area where there were
other detainees. There he was beaten again by the guardsmen, who threatened to
kill him. Human Rights Watch reviewed photographs of Ottaviani's face (taken after
his release) showing bruises that corroborate his statement.[221]

Ottaviani was then forced to board a school bus, in which he
counted more than 40 other detainees, including several women and three
minors.[222] Each
detainee was handcuffed to the person on his or her side, and all the detainees
he could see had visible bruises. They were all held on the bus and not allowed
to open the windows to alleviate the heat inside, which was stifling. The
guardsmen continued to hit people with batons inside the bus, threatened to
throw a teargas canister inside the bus, and told detainees they would be sent
to El Rodeo or Yare, two violent prisons in Venezuela.

Two hours later, a woman who identified herself as a
prosecutor entered the bus. The guardsmen stopped abusing detainees, but the
prosecutor did not ask them what had happened, according to Ottaviani.

After 10 p.m., the detainees were taken to the military base
Fuerte Tiuna, where they were held for almost a day. As soon as they arrived,
they were all taken to a chapel and separated into three groups: men, women,
and the three minors. During this time, the men were handcuffed to each other
in a human chain, and if they needed to go to the bathroom, they had to go to
the bushes, handcuffed to another detainee.

While detained at Fuerte Tiuna, Ottaviani was formally
presented to a prosecutor, taken to a room where other security officials
identified him, and then interviewed by representatives of the intelligence
police (SEBIN), who asked him about his family, who was with him at the
demonstration, and his nicknames in social networks.

When Albany Ottaviani, his sister, went to look for
Ottaviani at Fuerte Tiuna on the night of his arrest, a colonel told her and 15
other family members they all could be arrested because they were standing
inside a military zone. The family members promptly left, fearing their
presence could prompt retaliation against detainees. Ottaviani was allowed to
make a phone call to his home that night at 1 a.m. by a guard who lent him a
cell phone without official authorization. The following morning, family
members returned to Fuerte Tiuna and guardsmen told them they would be
providing a bus to take them to the courthouse where the detainees were going.
The family members were, however, driven around the city and dropped off at a
different location several hours later.

All of the detainees arrived at the courthouse at 6 p.m. on
March 1, and were handcuffed in a human chain, Ottaviani told Human Rights
Watch. When Ottaviani saw his lawyer minutes before the hearing began at 1 a.m.
that night, he had to speak with him with other detainees still handcuffed to
him.

The judge heard the testimony of only 14 detainees during
the hearing, but nonetheless confirmed the charges against more than 40 of
them, accusing them of having explosives or incendiary devices (porte de
artefactos explosivos o incendiarios), disturbing public order (alteración
del orden público), and association to commit crimes (asociación
para delinquir), Ottaviani said. Most of the detainees were granted
conditional liberty, while two others—an Italian journalist and a
Portuguese citizen—were released without charge.

Miranda
State, March 5

On the morning of March 5, Juan Sánchez, a
22-year-old student, participated in a peaceful demonstration with
approximately 20 people, holding signs protesting the scarcity of goods and
high levels of violence in Venezuela. The demonstration partially cut off traffic
along an avenue on the outskirts of Caracas.[223]
Afterward he headed home and several hours later, around 1:30 p.m., left his
house again on foot to go to the bank.

On his way to the bank, he was assaulted by approximately 10
members of the National Guard who stopped him on the street and, without
warning, started kicking him and beating him with their fists and the butts of
their rifles, landing blows on his head, stomach, arms, and legs. He initially
tried to protect his head and face from the blows but eventually decided to
offer no resistance, he told Human Rights Watch. At that moment, one of the
guardsmen fired a rubber bullet from point blank range into his right thigh.
Another guardsman said, “Finally we got one. He’ll be our trophy so
these brats stop fucking around.”[224]

Upon arriving at a military installation (Liceo Militar
Pedro María Ochoa Morales, PMOM), approximately 12 other guardsmen
forced him to take off his clothes and, wearing only his underwear, walk
barefooted on the soil to get his feet dirty with grease, presumably so they
could accuse him of having been at the barricades. One guardsman, who saw his
bleeding leg, asked: “Does this injury hurt?” and inserted his
finger into it, removed it, and then inserted it again. The second time he took
something out of his leg, but Sánchez could not see if it was muscle tissue
or a rubber bullet.

Three guardsmen then took Sánchez into a bathroom
where he saw the metal structure of a bed with springs lying against a wall.
The guardsmen handcuffed Sánchez to a metal pole behind the bed, with
his back towards the bed, and gave him electric shocks twice, and demanded that
he tell them who his accomplices were.[225]

Afterwards, the guardsmen took Sánchez to a patio
where the other officers were waiting, and ordered him to kneel down and walk
with his hands on the soil so they would get dirty as well. He refused and one
of them said, “Ah, you want to fight?”[226]
Sánchez was then forced to fight with the guardsman, while the rest
watched, laughing and cheering.

Only when a female officer appeared and told them to stop
did the guardsmen allow Sánchez to get dressed and drove him to a
hospital. However, despite requests by doctors that they leave the hospital so
the doctors could treat Sánchez, the guardsmen refused to do so, and
insisted on taking him away as soon as possible. The doctor in charge could
only provide Sánchez basic medical care, and forced the guardsman who
insisted in taking Sánchez away to sign a document stating he was doing
so assuming the responsibility for Sánchez’s health, according to
Sánchez.

Sánchez was driven back to the military installation,
where the guardsmen forced him to undress once again. He shared a room with
another detainee overnight. Once back at the military installation, the
guardsman who took him away from the hospital shouted at him, “You fascists
who want to destroy the revolution! This is true socialism!” He was given
something to eat.[227] During
the night, approximately five guardsmen stopped by and kicked him, occasionally
threatening him that he would be sent to prison.

The following morning, the guardsmen gave Sánchez
back his clothes, which were dirty with grease, and ordered him to wear them
during the hearing before the judge. Sánchez told Human Rights Watch
that when they were leaving the military installation to go to the courthouse
he saw guardsmen put six Molotov cocktails, 26 miguelitos, and a 9 mm
firearm in the trunk of an official vehicle.

Sánchez was driven around the city all afternoon. At
5 p.m., he arrived at the courthouse and a prosecutor interviewed him. Despite
the fact that Sánchez was limping, and had dried blood and visible marks
of abuse on his face, the prosecutor did not ask him what had caused his
injuries, he said.

At the hearing, the prosecutor presented the miguelitos,
his clothes, and the firearm as evidence to charge him with incitement to
commit crimes (incitación a la violencia), obstruction of public
roads (obstrucción a la vía pública), and carrying
firearms (porte de armas de fuego), according to Sánchez. The
judge ruled that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence to accuse
him, however, and ordered that he be released.

Sánchez only had access to his lawyer immediately
before the hearing. He was able to call his mother from the hospital, using a
cell phone that a nurse lent him, but had no further contact with his family
until the hearing in which the judge ordered his release.

Barquisimeto,
Lara State, March 12

At 5:30 p.m. on March 12, Keyla Josefina Brito, 41,
and her 17-year-old daughter were going to a butcher’s shop in
Barquisimeto when neighbors told them that National Guard troops had recently
been dispatched to disperse a nearby demonstration.[228]
They took shelter inside an apartment building for the next hour and a half
until neighbors told them that the clashes between the guardsmen and
demonstrators had ended, they said. Shortly after walking back into the street,
they saw a pedestrian get hit by a car. The driver fled the scene, leaving the
wounded woman in the street. According to Brito and her daughter, they flagged
down a pick-up truck that was passing by, and persuaded the driver to take the
wounded woman to the hospital. Fearing that more violence could erupt in the
area, they decided to get a ride as well. Five additional women and four men
also got on the back of the truck, apparently to avoid being caught in the
street if there was more violence.

According to Brito and her daughter, after driving for a few
blocks, the truck was stopped by approximately 20 National Guard motorcycles.
One of the guardsmen told the driver to drive with his passengers to a nearby
military installation (Destacamento 47), and the motorcycles escorted
the truck there, they said.

Brito and her daughter were held at the military
installation with the six other women who had been detained with
them—including the woman who had been hit by the car and appeared to be
suffering from serious injuries—for several hours, they said. Female
members of the National Guard beat them with batons, helmets, and fists, and
cut off their hair. The guardswomen told the detainees they would be raped, and
threatened to kill them. The guardswomen also repeatedly insulted the detainees
calling them “guarimberas,” and one of them said,
“While María Corina [Machado, a leading opposition politician] is
relaxing, you are getting beaten up” (María Corina
echándose aire en el culo y ustedes llevando cuero), according to
Brito.

The detainees were then moved to another area of the
military installation, where guardsmen told them they would be released if they
signed a document stating they had not been mistreated, which they all signed,
according to Brito and her daughter.[229] The
eight detainees were never charged with a crime, nor were they ever brought
before a judge, they said.

Caracas,
March 18

José Romero, 17, was coming out of a metro
station around 6 p.m. on March 18 in the Chacao district of Caracas when he was
stopped by three national guardsmen, who asked to see his identification.[230]
The metro station is near Plaza Altamira, a regular site of demonstrations by
students. When Romero held his ID up for them, he said, a guardsman said to
him—for no apparent reason—“You are very rebellious,”
and slapped him with an open hand across the side of his face. Another
guardsman grabbed his shirt by the collar and yanked him towards a motorcycle.
Romerowas placed on a motorcycle between the driver and another
guardsman, who sat behind him.

Romero was taken to a tent-like structure that did not
appear to be an official government building, where he saw six other men facing
a wall, on their knees, with their hands on the back of their heads. Guardsmen
told Romero to do the same, and told him that if he moved, he’d be
beaten. He was forced to stay in that position for the next 12 hours, without
being given food, water, or the chance to go to the bathroom, he said.

Over the course of the night, guardsmen threatened to rape
and kill Romero and the other detainees. Often, they made politically motivated
insults, such as saying: “You are fascists,” or “You’re
against the government,”, he told Human Rights Watch.

At one point during the night, a man—who he did not
see because he was on his knees facing the wall—came up behind him and
told him to lift up his shirt. Then, Romero said, he heard the sound of a
lighter being struck, and felt a burn on his back. He was burned three more
times on his back and torso.

Around 7 a.m., a guardsman asked, “Which of you was
the one with the ID?” When Romero said it was he, the guard told him to
stand up and turn around. Then, with no explanation, he walked Romero out
towards a narrow street and told him he was free to go. Romero said no
guardsman had ever explained why he had been detained. He did not know what
happened to the other six detainees, who were still on their knees, facing a
wall, when he left. When released, he did not even recognize what part of the
city he was in. (He waved down a taxi and, because guardsmen had stolen his
money, promised to pay the driver when he arrived home.)

Human Rights Watch would like to thank the numerous
Venezuelan organizations and individuals that contributed to this report, many
of whom asked not to be identified. We are very grateful for the support
provided by CIVILIS Human Rights (Civilis Derechos Humanos); the Committee of Family
Members of Victims of Events of February 27 to early March 1989 (Comité de Familiares de las Víctimas de
los sucesos ocurridos entre el 27 de febrero y los primeros días de
marzo de 1989, COFAVIC); Public Space (Espacio Público); the Venezuelan
Penal Forum (Foro Penal Venezolano); the Justice, Solidarity and Peace
Foundation (Asociación Civil Fundación Justicia, Solidaridad y
Paz, FUNPAZ); the Venezuelan Observatory of Prisons (Observatorio Venezolano de
Prisiones); the Venezuelan Program for Education-Action on Human Rights
(Programa Venezolano de Educación-Acción en Derechos Humanos,
PROVEA); and the Human Rights Office of the Archdiocese of Caracas
(Vicaría de Derechos Humanos de la Arquidiócesis de Caracas). We
would also like to thank Andrés Colmenarez, Nizar El Fakih, Nelson
Freitez, Alfonzo Granadillo Malavé, and Magaly Vásquez for their
invaluable support in contacting and arranging interviews with victims.

Human Rights Watch is deeply
grateful to the victims and their family members who shared their testimonies
with us. Human rights violations inflict often deep wounds on victims and their
families, and recounting such stories can be very painful. Many of the victims
who spoke with us expressed the hope that, by telling their stories, they could
help prevent others from suffering the same abuses.

[18]In some of these protests, the participants blocked
roadways—setting up barricades, most often made of trash, tree branches,
and pieces of concrete, which they sometimes set on fire, while others blocked
roads with their physical presence alone. Cars were often allowed to pass
through these barricades, albeit at reduced speeds, participants and witnesses
said, though sometimes passage was cut off altogether.

[19]For example, on March 7, students from the Medical
School at Centro Occidental Lisandro Alvarado University in Barquisimeto were
staging a protest by blocking a road located outside the campus, on which two
hospitals—one of them a children’s hospital—are located.
National guardsmen responded by firing teargas indiscriminately at the
protesters and into the campus, in spite of the common knowledge that the
hospitals were located there. Teargas that flowed into the campus affected
scores of child patients and the medical professionals attending to them, the
director of the hospital for adults said to Human Rights Watch. According to a
nurse who works in one of the hospitals, national guardsmen continued to fire
dozens of teargas canisters into the heart of the campus long after students
had withdrawn from the road, with little apparent regard for the possible
repercussions for patients.

[26] Under
the Venezuelan Constitution, “no one can be
subject to penalties, torture, or cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment” and “every person deprived of [his or her] liberty will be treated with
the due respect of human dignity.” In addition,
it states that “any person who is arrested must
be taken before a judge within 48 hours of the arrest,” and has the right to “communicate
immediately with [his or her] family members, lawyer, or person of trust, and
they, at the same time, have the right to be informed about where the person is
detained.” All detainees also have “the right to be immediately notified of the reasons of the
detention, and to include written information in the judicial file regarding
the physical and psychological conditions of the detainee.” The Constitution specifically provides
for the right of defense and legal counsel, and states that: “every person has the right to be notified of the charges for which
[he or she] is being investigated, to have access to evidence, and to have time
and sufficient medium to exercise [his or her] defense. ” Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, arts. 44,
49.

[30] Human
Rights Watch, A Decade Under Chávez: Political Intolerance and Lost
Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela; ; Human Rights Watch, Tightening the Grip: Concentration and
Abuse of Power in Chávez’s Venezuela..

[36]“Diosdado Cabello: The Only ‘armed collectives’ are Those
Responsible for the ‘Guarimbas’” (Diosdado Cabello: Los
únicos ‘colectivos armados’ son aquellos responsables de las
‘guarimbas’), video,
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1nh1vt_diosdado-cabello-los-unicos-colectivos-armados-son-aquellos-responsables-de-las-guarimbas_news
(accessed April 11, 2014). The statement was made
during a meeting between government officials and opposition leaders at the
Miraflores Palace in Caracas.

[42]Ministry of the Popular Power of Communications and Information, “Deployment
of the Guard of the People in the state of Zulia” (Despliegue de la
Guardia del Pueblo en el estado Zulia), January 18, 2013,
http://www.minci.gob.ve/2013/01/fotos-despliegue-de-la-guardia-del-pueblo-en-el-estado-zulia/
(accessed April 21, 2014).

[54] Ibid.
Photographs of the wounds are on file with Human Rights Watch.

[55] Email
from medical professional to Human Rights Watch, March 31, 2014. The name of
the person, who is employed by the Secretary of Defense, remains confidential.

[56] Ibid.
The medical professional’s email confirmed that Méndez’s
face had been grazed by a rubber pellet. Méndez showed Human Rights Watch
the mark on her face left by the pellet.

[57] Human
Rights Watch interview with Luis Rodríguez Malpica, Valencia March 23, 2014. Rodríguez showed
Human Rights Watch the wounds on his arm from where he had been hit by the
rubber bullets. Photographs of Rodríguez’s wounds on file with
Human Rights Watch.

[58] The
guardsmen were all wearing gas masks, according to the victims, and so were not
affected by the gas.

[62] Ibid.
Maldonado brought the pellets to the interview with Human Rights Watch, which
we determined, based on weight and texture, were not made of rubber or silicone.
Photographs of pellets on file with Human Rights Watch.

[74] The
medical report of the hospital to which Martínez was taken shows that he
did not arrive until March 21, which proves that, at the very least, he was not
taken to the hospital until after midnight on March 20, the day he was shot around
7 p.m. Medical Report (Informe médico), Hospital Metropolitano del
Norte, March 21, 2014. On file with Human Rights Watch. The doctor’s name
has been omitted out of concern for his/her security of tenure.

[75] In
addition to the medical report, the size and location of
Martínez’s wound was confirmed by photographs of the injury taken
by his family, which are on file with Human Rights Watch.

[78]
Psychological Report (Informe Psicológico), Patient: Clipso
Martínez, March 22, 2014 (on file with Human Rights Watch). The
psychologist’s name, a specialist in clinical and community psychology,
has been omitted out of concern for his/her security of tenure.

[79] Human
Rights Watch interview with Moisés Guánchez and his mother,
Monica Jezbel Díaz, Miranda state, March 20,
2014. Guánchez provided Human Rights Watch with copies of photographs
related to the incident taken by eyewitnesses, which corroborate parts of his
testimony.

[80]
Guánchez provided Human Rights Watch with copies of photographs showing
the injuries produced by the impacts on his arm and buttocks. Copies on file
with Human Rights Watch.

[83] Ibid.
In several of the photographs, it is possible to recognize blood stains in
Guánchez’s groin region on his khaki-colored pants and soaking his
left inner thigh and down his entire right leg, while he is standing surrounded
by national guardsmen.

[84] Copies
of photographs of the black pickup truck on file with Human Rights Watch.

[85] Human
Rights Watch interview with Moisés Guánchez and his mother, March
20, 2014. According to Guánchez, a guardsman told him, “that they
were going to stick a broomstick in my rectum.”

[86]Attorney General’s Office, Fiscalía Primera de la Circunscripción,
Miranda State, File 15F1-0416-14, Expediente No. MP 99623-2014, March
10, 2014. The request was sent from the Attorney General’s Office on
behalf of Guánchez’s mother, Monica Jezbel
Díaz, to the Comando Regional No. 5, Destacamento No. 56, Segunda
Compania, Los Teques, of the National Guard. It includes a list of items that
Díaz requests the National Guard return to her, which belonged to her
son and were confiscated during his detention. Copy on file with Human Rights
Watch.

[87] The
doctors who operated on Guánchez and removed the rubber pellets handed
them over to his mother as evidence. Guánchez’s mother showed them to Human Rights Watch researchers when they visited
their home. Photographs of rubber pellets on file with Human Rights Watch.

[88]Centro
Médico de Caracas, “Medical Report,” March 14, 2014, copy on file with Human Rights Watch. The name of the
doctor who signed this report remains confidential to avoid
repercussions in the person’s place of employment.

[89]Ibid; Medical report, March 9, 2014; Medical report, Medical Institute La Floresta, March 28, 2014. The names of
the doctors remain confidential to avoid repercussions in their place(s) of employment. Copies of medical reports on file with Human Rights Watch.

[95] Human
Rights Watch interviews with Marco Aurellio Coello, Luis Felipe Boada, Cristian
Holdack, Nelson Gil, Demian Martin, and Ángel de Jesús
González, Caracas, March 21, 2014. Human Rights Watch asked the same
questions to each of the six detainees in two group interviews to three men
each.

[101] The
ruling only lists the names of eight others, but all six detainees told Human
Rights Watch that there were ten other people accused of the same crimes at the
hearing. Decision by Judge Janeth Jeréz, February 15, 2014. Copy on file
with Human Rights Watch.

[103]Under Venezuelan criminal law, a prosecutor has up to
45 days to bring charges against a detainee, archive the case until further
evidence is obtained, or determine that there is no evidence to move forward
with the prosecution. Criminal Procedures Code, art. 250.

[114]
According to Human Rights Watch senior arms researcher Mark Hiznay, the recoil
produced by firing rubber bullets is greatly reduced when compared to live
ammunition, producing a sound that is significantly less loud.

[115] Transportation
Minister (Ministro del Poder Popular para Transporte Terrestre de Venezuela)
Haiman El Troudi issued several tweets on the night of the incident. They
contained pictures of what the minister said was the metrobus, and of injuries
allegedly sustained by the driver after being the victim of an attack. Haiman
El Troudi (@HaimanVZLA), “Our threatened compañero of the Metrobus
is out of danger after being victim of punches, shows contusions”
(“Nuestro compañero d Metrobus agredido esta fuera d peligro tras
ser víctima d golpes, presenta contusiones”) 19 Feb. 2014, 6:32
pm, Tweet. https://twitter.com/HaimanVZLA/status/436322667223080960.

[116] The
video, provided by Pinto to Human Rights Watch, shows footage of more than 20
motorcycles riding towards the location of the barricade firing their weapons.
Subsequently, it shows security forces lining up detainees on the wall
bordering the parking lot, corroborating the accounts by Pinto and Gutiérrez.
Video on file with Human Rights Watch.

[117] Ibid.
The video provided by Pinto shows dozens of detainees being held along the
wall, after having been brought over by guardsmen.

[118] Ibid.
In the video, guardsmen can be seen beating the detainees with batons, helmets, and their fists.

[128] Human
Rights Watch interview with Juan Carlos Briceño, Barquisimeto, March 22,
2014. Human Rights Watch reviewed photographs of his injuries and of the moment
in which he was being transported by other protesters to the hospital. Copies
on file with Human Rights Watch.

[130]
Medical report by Dr. Victor Manuel González from the Clinical Center
Valentina Canabal, February 23, 2014. Juan Carlos provided Human Rights Watch a
copy of an X-ray showing the bullet inside his spine,
and of a photograph of the bullet they removed from his back. Copy on file with
Human Rights Watch.

[139]Criminal
Judicial Courts of Lara state, 10th Prosecutor’s Office of Lara state, File
(Expediente)KP01-P-2014-003603 (on file with Human Rights Watch). The
CANTV station is located on the corner of Avenida Venezuela and Calle 10,
whereas according to witnesses and the video footage obtained by Human Rights
Watch, the detainees were arrested on the corner of Carrera 25 and Calle 11.
For detainees to have fled from the CANTV station to the location where the
police claimed to have arrested them, they would have had to have taken one of
two routes before being caught: 1) fled down the full length of a block of
Avenida Venezuela, then taken a left on Calle 11, and then ran another full
block to the far end of the street; or 2) fled the full length of a block of
Calle 10, taken a right, fled down another full block of Carrera 25, and then
taken another right on Calle 11. By either route, the distance was significantly
more than “a few meters” from the CANTV station. Casting further
doubt on the police’s account is the fact that Moisés
Evencio Río was unable to run due to chronic spinal and heart
problems, according to his brother (Medardo Deroy), so
would not have been able to flee from police if he had
been spotted near the CANTV station.

[141] The
video, which was recorded by a neighbor, shows the detention of Escalante and Río,
as they are being loaded in handcuffs into a pick-up truck. The street depicted
reveals that the detention did not occur outside of the CANTV facility, as
reported by police, but rather on a different block. Human Rights Watch later
visited the location of the arrest shown in the video, which was confirmed by a
witness as the place of detention, and we confirmed it was not directly next to
the CANTV facility. A copy of the video, provided by the detainees’
relatives, is on file with Human Rights Watch.

[150] The
Ombudsperson’s Office (Defensoría del Pueblo) is an official
government institution created in 1999 for the promotion and defense of human
rights guaranteed in the Venezuelan Constitution and
international human rights treaties.

[159] Human
Rights Watch interview with eyewitness, Valencia,
March 23, 2014. The identity of the eyewitness has been withheld out of concern
for the individual’s safety.

[160]The
Venezuelan Penal Forum is a network of criminal lawyers from different states
in Venezuela who have been working pro-bono to provide legal defense to people
detained at or near protests since February 12. Their website has an online,
searchable database with basic information of detainees, including name, ID
number, date and place of detention, date of release (if applicable), and
whether the detainee was granted conditional release. Venezuelan Penal Forum
database, http://foropenal.com/listadetenidos (accessed April 16, 2014).

[169] The
city’s mayor also said the demonstration had been peaceful before its
participants came under fire from armed men in plainclothes. Human Rights Watch
interview with Ángel Enrique Parra, Valencia, March 23, 2014; “Press release of the Mayor of Valencia” (Comunicado
del Alcalde de Valencia), n.d., https://twitter.com/PProgreso/status/436574592585322497/photo/1
(accessed April 18, 2014).

[171] Human
Rights Watch interview with Ángel Enrique Parra, Valencia, March 23,
2014. Parra provided pictures and a list of people
injured with live ammunition prepared by an academic in Valencia that
corroborate his account.

[205]
According to the prosecutors, the police had found in the pick-up truck four
20-litre bottles with gasoline, five 3-litre bottles with gasoline, 41 plastic
containers with 100 grams of gun powder each, two home-made shields made of
wire, 60 miguelitos (10 cm long each), 10 half-kilogram packs of nails,
9 pyrotechnics, 20 black hoods, 18 rubber tires, 216 Molotov cocktails, 30
pieces of wood, and an empty box of bullets with a label saying it belonged to
the San Diego Mayor's Office (an opposition stronghold at the time).
“Criminal Investigation Record” (Acta de Investigación Penal
Nor. GNB-CNGP-RC-DIP-059/14), February 21, 2014. Copy on file with Human Rights
Watch.

[210] Human
Rights Watch interview with one of the detainees, Caracas, March 18, 2014. The
identity of the victim has been withheld out of concern for the
individual’s safety; written statement by another detainee, provided to
the Venezuelan Penal Forum, n.d.

[211] Human
Rights Watch interview with one of the detainees, Caracas, March 18, 2014.

[222] The
Venezuelan Penal Forum, which defended Ottaviani, provided Human Rights Watch
with a list of 36 names of people they defended who were detained in the same
incident. Copy on file with Human Rights Watch.

[223] Human
Rights Watch interview with Juan Sánchez (pseudonym), Caracas, March 21,
2014. The identity of the victim has been withheld out of concern for the
individual’s safety.

[230] Human
Rights Watch interview with José Romero (pseudonym), Caracas, March 19,
2014. The identity of the victim has been withheld out of concern for the
individual’s safety, and because he is a child.